Program - San Francisco Bach Choir

san francisco BACH CHOIR
magen solomON, artistic DIRECTOR
2014–2015 Season
Love, Loss, and Landscape
❧
Sunday, May 10, 2015, 4 PM
Calvary Presbyterian Church, San Francisco
A Note from the Artistic Director
Dear friends, old and new, of the SF Bach Choir,
How I have loved this first season with the Bach Choir and how it’s flown by! I am so grateful to
the singers, the staff, and the Board for their warm welcome and enthusiastic efforts in service to our
shared musical and organizational goals. In particular, my thanks to the singers for embracing new
languages, new styles, new sounds; to the staff and Board for their deep support and their creativity in
re-examining and re-imagining what the Bach Choir can be; and to you, our audience, for sharing
our love for this grand and intimate, personal and universal world of choral music.
Why “Love, Loss & Landscape”? I wanted to share some of the wonderful repertoire, especially from
the (19th century) Romantic period, about love and loss and how those emotions are often expressed
through the language of nature and landscape. Tchaikovsky’s work, for example, is a 50-measure
love-and-loss story between a rocky cliff and a little cloud. Alice Parker’s arrangement of “God is Seen”
shows sacred love being expressed though “meadows dressed in green” and “the lily and the thorn.” In
the first Bartók song, with the loss of a mother’s love and the lack of a husband’s love, a sad girl becomes
a bird. Finally, Brahms’ spectular set of 15 Love-Song Waltzes are brimming with natural images: soft
grasses, dark forests, flowers, the wind, shadows, the sea’s whirlpools and waves…
I will speak in more detail about today’s program during the concert but as you listen I invite you
to consider the ways we still use the natural world to talk about feeling love (a spark, a flame, a whirlwind, on a cloud, stars in one’s eyes, over the moon, the deep blue sea) and feeling loss (the abyss, the
darkest night, tossed off a cliff, a torrent of tears, a desolate plain.)
As our season closes, I look back with so much pleasure on our shared musical explorations, the
friends made, the skills learned, and our continually evolving dance. We are also, of course, looking
forward with excitement to next season—our 80th!—and you get a sneak preview! We will be celebrating all season with community and alumni events and concerts, crowning it with a performance of
Bach’s magnificent Mass in B-minor in May 2016. In addition to updating our look and improving our
website, we will also be broadening our selection of venues, including one May performance at First
Congregational Church in Berkeley.
In a world filled with so much pain and suffering, how extraordinarily fortunate we are to rub
shoulders with genius each week and to be able to share both our love and our losses with such a warm
community.
With gratitude,
Magen Solomon
In keeping with concert theme of “Love, Loss, and Landscape” SFBC will donate a portion of today’s
ticket sales income to Save The Children in support of earthquake relief in Nepal. Save The Children
has been working in Nepal since 1976, and 100% of any additional donations to them will be gratefully
accepted and passed along.
San Francisco Bach Choir
Magen Solomon, Artistic Director
Steven Bailey and Mai-Linh Pham, Piano
Love, Loss, and Landscape
Awakening in the World
Sumer is icumen in
Anon. 13th c.
Frühlingsahnung
Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
Cantique de Jean Racine
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
The Chickens They Are Crowin’
Peter Urquhart (b.1952)
Reflection
Der Greis
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Im Herbste
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805–1847)
God is Seen
Alice Parker (b. 1925)
Dancing
Slavonic Dance
Op. 72 no.7
Op. 72 no.2
Op. 46 no.5
Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)
Mostly Loss
Bright Morning Star
Fred Squatrito (b.1950)
Nochevala tuchka
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Four Slovak Songs
Béla Bartók (1881–1945)
Please, no cameras or recording devices. Please turn off cell phones and pagers.
Mostly Love (and More Dancing)
Neue Liebeslieder
1. Verzicht, o Herz, auf Rettung
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
2. Finstere Schatten der Nacht
3. An jeder Hand die Finger
Tricia Bell, Hallie Holtzman, Zohar Perla, sopranos
4.Ihr schwarzen Augen, ihr dürft nur winken
Reg Hsu, Jack Miller, Joe Taff, basses
5. Wahre, wahre deinen Sohn
Kelsey Menahan, Susan Talabay, Elisabeth Zurlinden, altos
6.Rosen steckt mir an die Mutter
Tricia Bell, Hallie Holtzman, Carolyn Spitz, sopranos
7. Vom Gebirge Well’ auf Well’
8. Weiche Gräser im Revier
9. Nagen am Herzen
Maura Church, Naomi Peterkin, Lisa Sargent, sopranos
10.Ich kose süss mit der und der
Walter Aab, Acacia Newlon, Dave Raub, tenors
11. Alles, alles in den Wind
Zohar Perla, Naomi Peterkin, Carolyn Spitz, sopranos
12. Schwarzer Wald, dein Schatten
13. Nein, Geliebter, setze dich
14. Flammenauge, dunkles Haar
15. Zum Schluss: Nun, ihr Musen, genug!
Join
us to sing wonderful music!
Rehearsals begin September 1 for our 80th Anniversary Season. We are looking for experienced singers with
good reading skills. For audition information, please visit our website: www.sfbach.org
Program Notes
Today’s program explores the themes of love and
loss as they are expressed through the natural world.
Under this umbrella the Bach Choir presents pieces
from a variety of composers, countries, and eras, featuring a wide spectrum of emotions and outlooks.
The oldest piece on the program is “Sumer is icumen
in,” a landmark of music history. This piece is a “rota”
(a kind of canon or round), found
in a manuscript compiled c. 1250
near Reading, England, now in the
British Library (Ms. Harley 978). The
single, carefully filled page includes
the melody of the rota, with two
texts (Middle English in black ink,
an alternate Latin text in red), the
music and text of the two pedes (pes
means foot and it is the repeating
ostinato “sing cuccu nu, sing cuccu”—sing cuckoo now—sung today
by the men), and the instructions
on how to perform the piece (the
canon, or “rule”). A red cross in the
music shows where the second and
following parts enter. The instructions are as follows:
pant. Both children were extremely talented musicians,
and both highly educated, but Fanny was discouraged from publishing because of her gender; she was
repeatedly told to compose “feminine genres” like
songs and piano pieces. The two were extremely close,
playing musical games with each other (“guess the
title of this piece I’m playing”), so much so that when
Fanny died an untimely death, her
brother, heartbroken, survived her
by only a few months. Felix himself
discouraged his sister from publishing, though he said that some of the
pieces published under his name
were by Fanny. Both composed in a
Romantic style, but not the militantly “new” type of the so-called New
German School of Wagner, Berlioz,
and Liszt. Most of the expression is
found in the delightful harmonies
and delicate musical gestures.
The program includes pieces by
some Eastern European composers
as well. The three Slavonic Dances
for piano are by Bohemian composer Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904),
who wrote in a distinctly national
style, and tried, when he was director of the New York Conservatory of
Music, to steer his American pupils toward their native
heritage (Native American, African-American, and folk
song). Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (1881–1945)
emigrated to the United States and dedicated himself
to editing collections of Eastern European folk music,
many of which he had recorded in remote villages.
Russian composer Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
is mostly known for his ballets, but he composed in
many different genres. His choral works are reminiscent of the Russian Orthodox musical tradition. Today’s
piece is a setting of a poem by the eminent Russian
poet Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841).
This round can be sung by four
fellows, but must not be performed
by fewer than three, or at least two,
apart from those performing the pes. It is sung as follows: While the others remain silent, one begins together
with those who have the
and when he shall have
come to the first note after the cross, another begins,
and so on with the rest. But each shall pause at the
written rests, and not elsewhere, for the duration of
one long note. One singer repeats this [the first pes]
as often as necessary, observing the rest at the end.
Another sings this [the second pes] with a rest in the
middle but not at the end, at which point he at once
repeats the beginning.
Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn (1809–1847, 1805–
1847) are both on the program. The siblings were born
into a prominent Hamburg intellectual Jewish family
(their grandfather was the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn), who converted to Catholicism and moved to
Berlin to try to avoid the anti-Semitism already ram-
France is represented by Gabriel Fauré (1845–
1924). His Cantique de Jean Racine is a first-prize-winning, teenage student work—he was 19 and in his last
year at the Louis Niedermeyer’s School in Paris (the
École de Musique Classique et Religieuse—School of
Classical and Religious Music), where he earned degrees, a certificate of Chapel Master, and many prizes
in organ, piano, harmony, and composition. The distinctive modern style of Fauré is already shining clearly
in this youthful work. Jean Racine was a great French
poet and dramatist of the 17th century.
shadow looming over his shoulder so much that it
took him about two decades to compose his first symphony. The Liebeslieder, both collections, are waltzes
for four vocal parts and piano four-hand. In his waltzes
Brahms revives the old folk song for dancing. These
have a feel closer to the Viennese Ländler, or folk
dance, of Schubert rather than to the later Viennese
waltz of Strauss. The last of the Neue Liebeslieder, the
only song on a text by Goethe, is also the only song
in the two collections to be in 9/4 rather than 3/4,
a delightful compounding of the waltz meter. It is a
tranquil reflection on the indescribability of the joys
and sorrows of love, the pain of Cupid’s arrows, to be
soothed only by music itself—a fitting conclusion to
today’s array of the ecstasies of love.
The collection of pieces concluding the program
is by Johannes Brahms (1833–1897). It is called Neue
Liebeslieder (New Love Songs) Op. 65 (1869–1874) to
differentiate it from the first collection of Love Songs,
Op. 52, which he had composed in 1868–1869. Both
collections are settings of texts from Georg Friedrich
Daumer’s collection Polydora, which includes poems
translated and adapted from folk songs of Russia, Poland, Hungary, and many other lands. The Neue Liebeslieder conclude with a setting of a poem by Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). In 1863 Brahms
had moved from Hamburg to Vienna, where he conducted the Wiener Singakademie, a choral group, and
later both choral and orchestral groups of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, perpetuating the legacy of
Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert in their own city.
While in Vienna he studiously distanced himself from
the persistent clamor for novelty, as represented by
the New German School. He continued to write in
the traditional forms, “absolute” music as opposed to
“program” music, music that does not strive to convey
non-musical images, though it is passionately romantic. He saw himself as heir to the classical tradition of
Mozart and Beethoven, though he felt the latter’s long
—Alexandra Amati-Camperi, PhD, 2015
Alexandra Amati-Camperi holds a BA/MA in Slavic Studies and Philology from the Universita degli Studi
di Pisa (Italy), degrees in piano from the Conservatory of Music of Lucca (Italy), and an MA and PhD in
Musicology from Harvard University. She is Professor
of Music and Co-coordinator of the Music Program,
which she created, at the University of San Francisco.
She is a program annotator and pre-concert lecturer
for many Bay Area organizations, including the San
Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Opera and its
Bay Area Guilds, Philharmonia Baroque, and others.
She is currently a Visiting Scholar in the Music Department at Harvard University. n
Biographies
The San Francisco Bach Choir is an auditioned
volunteer choir providing the Bay Area with exceptional concerts focused particularly on the music of
J.S. Bach, his contemporaries and predecessors, and on
rarely heard Renaissance and Baroque music. Founded
in 1936, it is one of the oldest continuously performing community choirs in the western United States.
The Choir uses a historically informed approach, period instruments, and professional instrumentalists
and soloists.
Artistic Director Magen Solomon has been active in Early Music as a conductor, singer, scholar, and
editor for over three decades. She has been Artistic
Director of the San Francisco Choral Artists since 1995;
together they have premiered over 230 choral works,
performed at major choral conferences, released three
CDs, and they have twice won the Chorus America/
ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. She has
served as Artistic Director of the Stockton Chorale and
the Oakland Symphony Chorus, and has taught and
conducted at the University of Southern California,
Santa Clara University, and Smith and Mount Holyoke
colleges. Active across the US and abroad as a clinician, teacher, and guest conductor, Dr. Solomon has
directed the California Bach Society, Pro Coro Canada,
UC Santa Cruz Chamber Singers, and other ensembles.
She has collaborated on performances of major choral
works with Michael Tilson Thomas, Nicolas McGegan, Helmuth Rilling, Kent Nagano, and Christoph von
Dohnányi among others. She is editor of the “New
Voices in Research” column in the Choral Journal, and
has published an edition of Johannes Eccard’s Newe
deutzsche Lieder (1578) with A-R Editions.
a founding member of the new vocal chamber music
repertory group CMASH. Drawing on his extensive
experience in vocal repertoire, Steven was San Francisco Parlor Opera’s musical director in several of their
productions of major repertory operas. He teaches at
the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Mai-Linh Pham has been a vocal coach and
pianist at San Francisco Conservatory of Music since
2000. As a collaborative pianist, she is equally at home
working with instrumentalists and vocalists and has
performed throughout the United States and abroad,
including recent concerts at the Presidential Palace in
Honduras and at the Kennedy Center as part of the
“Conservatory Project.” Ms. Pham has been a faculty
member at the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute, Classical Singing in New York, music director
of the opera workshop program at Notre Dame de
Namur University, and part of the accompanying staff
at Oberlin Conservatory and the Aspen Music Festival.
Ms. Pham holds a B.M. from Oberlin Conservatory, a
M.M. from San Francisco Conservatory, and a D.M.A.
from the University of Minnesota in the Accompanying
and Coaching program, where she studied with Margo
Garrett and Karl Paulnack. n
Pianist Steven Bailey has been accompanist for
the Bach Choir since 1992, and he regularly performs
in and outside the San Francisco Bay Area as soloist,
chamber and collaborative keyboardist. Steven has appeared as concerto soloist with Symphony Parnassus,
Diablo Symphony, UC-Davis Symphony, San Francisco
Concerto Orchestra, and Magnificat Baroque Orchestra. He has performed with American Bach Soloists as
guest soloist and continuo organist. He has collaborated in chamber performances with members of the
Alexander, Arlekin, and Sausalito quartets, and he is
Texts
and
Translations
The cow lows for her calf,
The bullock leaps, the buck farts.
Sing merrily, cuckoo!
Cuckoo! Cuckoo!
You sing well, cuckoo—
Now don’t ever stop!
— Translation Robert Coote
Sumer is icumen in
Sumer is icumen in!
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweth sed and bloweth med
And springth the wode nu.
Sing, cuccu!
Awe bletheth after lomb,
Lhouth after calve cu,
Bulloc sterteth, bucke verteth.
Murie sing cuccu!
Cuccu! Cuccu!
Wel singes thu cuccu—
Ne swik thu naver nu!
Frülingsahnung
O sanfter, süsser Hauch! Schon weckest du wieder Mir Frühlingslieder, Bald blühen die Veilchen auch. Intimations of spring
O soft, sweet zephyr!
Already you summon memories
Of songs of spring,
And soon the violets will blossom.
— Translation Magen Solomon
Summer has arrived!
Loudly sing, cuckoo!
The seed grows and the meadow flowers
And now the wood is in leaf.
Sing, cuckoo!
The ewe bleats for her lamb,
Der Greis
Hin ist alle meine Kraft.
Alt und schwach bin ich.
Wenig nur erquicket mich
Scherz und Rebensaft.
Hin ist alle meine Kraft.
Meiner Wangen Roth
Ist hinweggeflohn. Der Tod
Klopft an meine Thür.
Unerschreckt mach ich ihm auf.
Himmel, habe Dank:
Ein harmonischer Gesang
War mein Lebenslauf!
—Johann Wolfgang Ludwig Gleim (1719–1803)
Cantique de Jean Racine
Verbe, égal au Tres-Haut,
Notre unique espérance, Jour éternel de la terre et des cieux,
De la paisible nuit nous rompons le silence.
Divin Sauveur, jette sur nous les yeux!
Répands sur nous le feu de ta grâce puissante,
que tout l’enfer fuie au son de ta voix.
Dissipe le sommeil d’une âme languissante,
qui la conduit à l’oubli de tes lois.
O Christ, sois favorable à ce peuple fidèle
pour te bénir maintenant rassemblé.
Reçois les chants qu’il offre à ta gloire immortelle
et de tes dons qu’il retourne comblé!
—Jean Racine (1639–1699)
The Old Man
All my strength is gone,
I am old and weak.
Only merriment and the juice of the grape
Refresh me a little.
All my strength is gone.
The ruddiness has fled
From my cheeks. Death
Knocks at my door.
I open for him without fear.
Heaven be thanked:
My whole life was
A harmonious song.
—Translation Polly Coote
Hymn by Jean Racine
Word, equal to the Most High,
You our only hope,
Eternal day of earth and the heavens,
We break the silence of the peaceful night.
Divine Savior, cast your eyes upon us!
Pour over us the fire of your powerful mercy,
that all hell flee at the sound of your voice.
Dispel the sleep of a languishing soul
which leads it to forget your laws.
O Christ, be benevolent to your faithful people
who gather now to praise you.
Receive the songs they offer to your immortal glory
and the gifts they offer back from your bounty.
—Translation Magen Solomon, Robert Coote
Im Herbste
Seid gegrüßt mit Frühlingswonne
Blauer Himmel, goldne Sonne.
Drüben auch aus Gartenhallen
Hör ich frohe Saiten schallen.
Ahnest du, o Seele, wieder
Sanfte, süße Frühlingslieder?
Sieh umher die falben Bäume!
Ahnest du, o Seele, wieder
Sanfte, süße Frühlingslieder?
Ach, es waren holde Träume!
—Ludwig Uhland (1787–1862)
In Autumn
Greetings to you, with spring joyfulness,
Blue heavens, golden sun!
From the garden rows
I hear the sounds of cheerful strings.
Can you once more recall, O soul,
Sweet and gentle songs of spring?
Look around at the brown trees.
Can you once more recall, O soul,
the sweet and gentle songs of spring?
Oh, those were such lovely dreams!
—Translation Magen Solomon, Robert Coote
The Chickens They are Crowin’
The chickens they are crowin’,
acrowin’, acrowin’,
The chickens they are crowin’,
or it is almost daylight.
My mother she will scold me,
will scold me, will scold me,
My mother she will scold me
for stayin’ away all night.
My father he’ll uphold me,
uphold me, uphold me,
My father he’ll uphold me
and say I done just right,
I won’t go home ’til mornin’,
’til mornin’, ’til mornin’,
I won’t go home ’til mornin’,
and I’ll stay with the girls all night.
They have gone on before us.
Day is abreakin’ in my soul.
God is Seen
Through all the world below
God is seen all around;
Search hills and valleys through,
There He’s found.
Oh how can I be lonely?
My friends are all around me,
Their loving arms surround me.
Day is abreakin’ in my soul.
The growing of the corn,
The lily and the thorn,
The pleasant and forlorn
All declare, God is there.
In meadows drest in green,
God is seen.
Nochevala tuchka zolotaya
Nochevala tuchka zolotaya
Na grudi ut’osa velikana;
Utrom v put’ ona pustilas’ rano,
Po lazuri veselo igraya.
See springing waters rise,
Fountains flow, rivers run;
The mist that veils the sky
Hides the sun.
No ostals’a vlazhnyj sled v morshchine
Starovo ut’osa. Odinoko
On stoit, zadumals’a gluboko,
I tikhonko plachet on v pustyne.
—Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841)
Then down the rain doth pour,
The ocean, it doth roar
And beat upon the shore,
And all praise, in their ways,
The God who ne’er declines
His designs.
A little golden cloud spent the night
On the breast of a giant crag.
In the morning early she set out,
Playing happily in the azure sky.
The sun with all his rays
Speaks of God as he flies.
The comet in her blaze,
“God!” she cries.
But a damp trace remained in a crevice
Of the old crag. Lonely
He stands, deep in thought,
And quietly weeps in the wasteland.
—Translation Polly Coote
The shining of the stars,
The moon, when she appears,
His awful name declares;
See them fly
Through the sky
And join the solemn sound
All around.
Four Slovak Songs
I.
Zadala mamka, zadala dcéru
D’aleko od sebe
Zakázala jej, prikázala jej: Nechod’dcéro ku mne!
Bright Morning Star
Bright morning star arising.
Bright norming star arising.
Bright norming star arising.
Day is abreakin’ in my soul.
Ja sa udelám ptáčkom jarabým, Poletím k mamičke,
A sadnem si tam na zahradečku, Na bielu laliju.
Vyjde mamička: Čo to za ptáčka
Čo tak smutne spieva?
Ej, hešu, hešu ptáčku jarabý
Nelámaj laliju!
Oh where are our dear mothers?
Oh where are our dear mothers?
They are sowing seeds of gladness.
Day is abreakin’ in my soul.
Ta daly ste mňa za chlapa zlého
Do kraja cudzieho;
—please turn page quietly
Oh where are our dear fathers?
Oh where are our dear fathers?
Veru mne je zle, mamička milá,
So zlým mužom byti.
II.
Wedding song from Poniky
The mother married her daughter off
far from home.
She banished her, commanding her
“Don’t come back to me, daughter!”
“I will change myself into a speckled bird—
I will fly back to my mother
and perch there in her little garden
on a white lily.”
Na holi, na holi, Na tej širočine
Ved’ som sa vyspala, Ako na perine.
Už sme pohrabaly, Čo budeme robit’?
Svŕšku do doliny Budeme sa vodit’.
Song of the Haymaker from Hiadel
In the mountain pasture,
in the mountain pasture,
On the broad expanse
I slept so well,
As well as on a featherbed!
We have finished raking,
What shall we do now?
Down into the valley
We will go.
Out came her mother: “What little bird is this
that’s singing so sadly?
Hey, get away little speckled bird—
don’t break my lily!”
“You gave me to an evil fellow,
to a strange land.
It’s truly bad for me, dear mother,
to be with an evil husband.”
III.
Rada pila, rada jedla, Rada tancovala,
10
Ani si len tú kytličku Ne obranclovala.
Ne dala si štyri groše. Ako som ja dala
Žeby si ty tancovala
A ja žeby stála.
To bola kozička čo predok vodila, Ej, ale už nebude—Ej, nôžky si zlomila.
Dancing Song from Poniky
Play bagpipes! Let us dance together!
Hey, bagpipes, play merrily, hey, let’s go boldly!
Play, piper! I’ve still got two coins.
One is for the piper, the other for the
tavern keeper.
There was a little goat that used to run about.
It is no more—it broke its leg [the goat’s skin is
now the bagpipe!].
—Translation Polly Coote
Dancing Song from Medzibrod
You, girl, like to drink, like to eat,
You like to dance,
But your little skirt
You don’t even hem.
You didn’t pay [the piper] four coins.
How come I paid
So you would be dancing
But I would be standing here?
Neue Liebeslieder 1:Verzicht, o Herz
Verzicht, o Herz, auf Rettung,
dich wagend in der Liebe Meer!
Denn tausend Nachen schwimmen
zertrümmert am Gestad umher!
IV.
Gajdujte, gajdence pôjdeme k frajerce!
Ej, gajdujte vesele, ej, že pôjdeme smele!
Zagajduj gajdoše! Ešte mám dva groše.
Ej, jedon gajdošovi, a druhý krčmárovi.
Renounce, O heart, hopes of being saved
if you dare enter the Sea of Love!
—please turn page quietly
11
For a thousand boats drift about
shattered against the shore!
How should such a struggle be resisted
By my heart, that weak house of cards?
5:Wahre, wahre deinen Sohn
Wahre, wahre deinen Sohn,
Nachbarin, vor Wehe.
Weil ich ihn mit schwarzem Aug
zu bezaubern gehe.
O wie brennt das Auge mir,
das zu zünden fordert!
Flammet ihm die Seele nicht,
deine Hütte lodert!
2:Finstere Schatten der Nacht
Finstere Schatten der Nacht,
Wogen und Wirbelgefahr!
Sind wohl, die da gelind
rasten auf sicherem Lande,
euch zu begreifen im Stande?
Das ist der nur allein,
welcher auf wilder See
stürmischer Oede treibt,
Meilen entfernt vom Strande.
Protect, protect your son,
Dear neighbor, from grief.
Because I with my black eyes
Aim to bewitch him.
O how my eyes smolder so,
Requiring me to light fires!
If his soul does not become enflamed,
Then your cottage will!
Gloomy shadows of the night,
Danger from waves and whirlpools!
Are they able, those who rest
At ease on safe land,
To comprehend your dangerous situation?
It is but he alone
Who on wild seas
Floats in stormy solitude,
Miles away from the shore.
6:Rosen steckt mir an die Mutter
Rosen steckt mir an die Mutter,
weil ich gar so trübe bin.
Sie hat Recht, die Rose sinket,
so wie ich, entblättert hin.
3:An jeder Hand die Finger
An jeder Hand die Finger
hatt ich bedeckt mit Ringen,
die mir geschenkt mein Bruder
in seinem Liebessinn.
Und einen nach dem andern
gab ich dem schönen
aber unwürdigen Jüngling hin.
My mother pinned roses to me
Because I am so very sad.
She is right: the rose wilts,
Dropping its petals, as do I.
The fingers of each hand
were covered with rings
given to me by my brother
as a token of his love.
And one after another
I surrendered them to the
handsome but unworthy youth.
7:Vom Gebirge Well auf Well
Vom Gebirge Well auf Well
kommen Regengüsse.
Und ich gäbe dir so gern
Hunderttausend Küsse!
From the mountains, wave upon wave
Come torrents of rain:
And I would so gladly give you
A hundred thousand kisses!
4:Ihr schwarzen Augen
Ihr schwarzen Augen, ihr dürft nur winken,
Paläste fallen und Städte sinken.
Wie sollte stehn in solchem Strauss
Mein Herz, von Karten das schwache Haus?
8:Weiche Gräser im Revier
Weiche Gräser im Revier,
schöne stille Plätzchen!
O wie linde ruht es hier
mit einem Schätzchen!
You black eyes, you need but to blink
And palaces fall and cities sink.
12
Soft grasses in the meadow,
Beautiful, quiet little places!
O how pleasant to linger here
With one’s darling!
Set your trap!
For you are an unbridled thief,
since you flirt with everyone!
12:Schwarzer Wald
Schwarzer Wald,
dein Schatten ist so düster!
Armes Herz,
dein Leiden ist so drückend!
Was dir einzig werth,
es steht vor Augen:
ewig untersagt
ist Huldvereinung!
9:Nagen am Herzen
Nagen am Herzen
fühl ich ein Gift mir;
kann sich ein Mädchen,
ohne zu fröhnen
zärtlichem Hang,
fassen ein ganzes
wonneberaubtes
Lebenentlang?
Dark forest,
your shadows are so gloomy!
Poor heart,
your suffering is so oppressive!
The one thing you value
is right in front of you:
forever forbidden
is union in mutual devotion.
Gnawing at my heart
I feel a poison:
must a girl
ignore
her tender inclinations
and live a life
robbed
of bliss?
13:Nein, Geliebter, setze dich
Nein, Geliebter, setze dich
mir so nahe nicht!
Starre nicht so brünstiglich
mir ins Angesicht.
Wie es auch im Busen brennt
dämpfe, dämpfe deinen Trieb,
dass es nicht die Welt erkennt,
wie wir uns so lieb.
10:Ich kose süss mit der und der
Ich kose süss mit der und der
und werde still und kranke,
denn ewig kehrt zu dir,
o Nonna, mein Gedanke!
I flirt with this girl and that,
yet remain quiet and heartsick,
for my thoughts forever
return to you, O Nonna!
No, beloved, do not sit
So close to me!
Don’t gaze so ardently
Into my eyes!
No matter how your heart burns,
Damp, damp your desire,
To prevent the world from seeing
How very much we love each other.
11:Alles, alles in den Wind
Alles, alles in den Wind
sagst du mir, du Schmeichler!
Allesammt verloren sind
deine Mühn, du Heuchler!
Einem andern Fang zu lieb,
stelle deine Falle!
denn du bist ein loser Dieb,
denn du buhlst um alle!
14: Flammenauge, dunkles Haar
Flammenauge, dunkles Haar,
Knabe wonnig und verwogen,
Kummer ist durch dich hinein
in mein armes Herz gezogen!
Kann in Eis der Sonne Brand,
sich in Nacht der Tag verkehren?
Kann die heisse Menschenbrust
Everything, everything you tell me
is lost to the wind, you flatterer!
All your efforts are lost,
you hypocrite!
For the sake of some other catch
13
athmen ohne Glutbegehren?
Ist die Flur so voller Licht,
dass die Blum im Dunkel stehe?
Ist die Welt so voller Lust,
dass das Herz in Qual vergehe?
15:Nun, ihr Musen, genug!
Nun, ihr Musen, genug!
Vergebens strebt ihr zu schildern,
Wie sich Jammer und Glück
wechseln in liebender Brust.
Heilen könnet die Wunden ihr nicht,
die Amor geschlagen;
Aber Linderung kommt
einzig, ihr Guten, von euch.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ((1749–1832)
Flaming eye and dark hair,
Delightful and dashing lad,
Because of you care has penetrated
Into my poor heart!
Can the sun’s fire turn into ice,
Or the day turn into night?
Can a person’s burning breast
Breathe without passionate desire?
Is the field so bright with light
That the flower might lie in darkness?
Is the world so full of delight
That the heart might waste away in torment?
Now, you Muses, enough!
In vain you strive to portray
how sorrow and happiness
alternate in the lover’s breast.
You cannot heal the wounds
that Love has struck—
yet gentle relief from that pain
comes solely, good Muses, from you.
—Translation Magen Solomon, Robert Coote
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14
Marge Afterman
In memoriam: Joe Afterman, longtime
friend and supporter of the choir
Geneviève Duboscq
In memory of Monica Jean Prime and Remi
Duboscq
Eileen & Gordon Libby
In honor of Judy Stone and in memory of
Rolly Naish
Mike Brennen
In honor of Dr. Bell
Linda Price
In honor of James, Ruth, and Jim Price
Steve Bruckner
In memory of
Dr. Nancy Bruckner
Judy Goldstein
In loving memory of
Morris & Dorothy Goldstein, who first gave
me the gift of music, and
David Babbitt, who inspired me towards a
deeper love of music
Kathy Clement
In memory of Joe Afterman
Sharon Gustavson
In honor of Magen Solomon
Joan Cooper & Owen Lang
In honor of Mary Vogt for her
longtime friendship
Hallie & Gil Holtzman
In loving memory of Sylvia Raab Dworkin,
who gave us the gift of friendship, wisdom,
warmth, and a deep appreciation of the arts
Tally Craig
In honor of Mary Vogt
Reg Hsu
In memory of David M. Robinson
Maureen Dubois
In honor of Genevieve Duboscq
Dave & Mary Raub
In honor of Magen Solomon
Daniel Scharlin
In memorium
for Helen B. Clement
Glenn Stover
In honor of my wonderful husband, Gerard
Schulz
Katherine Vaughn
From friends of Barbara Livermore!
Robert Venning
To honor Mary Vogt
www.sfbach.org
855-4sf-bach (855-473-2224)
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October 17 & 18 2015
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15
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16
Corporate
and
Foundation Donors
San Francisco Grants for the Arts Hotel Tax Fund · Schoenberg Family Law Group, P.C. · Gordon & Rees LLP
The Sobrato Organization. · Dolby Match Program · VISA
Center for Learning in Retirement (CLIR) · AmazonSmile Foundation
Clement Designs
Gifts-in-kind
· Strand Boyce Associates, CPAs, Inc. · Alexandra Amati-Camperi
San Francisco Bach Choir Annual Fund Donors
Benefactors ($10,000 +)
Anonymous
Judith Stone
Grand Patrons ($5,000–9,999)
Dick Buxbaum &
Catherine Hartshorn
Patrons ($1,000–4,999)
Patsy Babbitt
Dr. & Mrs. Joseph Barbaccia
Frances Boggiano
Didi & Dix Boring
David & Becki Conant
Mark Davis & Noemi Alvarado*
Sharon Gustavson
John F. Heil
Barbara Livermore &
Peter Gaffney
Jason Maxham
Sally Nielsen
Dave & Mary Raub
Sue Sherk
Glenn Stover
Susan Talabay*
Nancy Weston &
William Euphrat
Donors ($500–999)
Jon Connie Hartung
Hallie & Gil Holtzman
Reg Hsu
Robert Liu
Eamonn McManus*
Laurie Olsen & Mike Margulis*
Barbara Paschke
Mary & Terry Vogt
Bob Worth &
Margaret McCarthy
Sponsors ($250–499)
Sylvia Braselmann
The Rev. Richard Fabian
Jan & Karen Gullett*
Norman & Rojean Leaper
John Lee
Hollis G. Lenderking
Eileen & Gordon Libby
Meli Solomon
Ruth Uhle
Katherine Vaughn
Supporters ($100–249)
Marge Afterman
Anonymous (2)
Christine Bartels
Mike Brennen
Steve Bruckner
Jacquelien Bulterman-Bos &
Dick Bulterman
Bill Chiles
Kathy Clement
Robert Cook
David J. Deiwert
Beverly Edge
David Elson
Judy Goldstein
David Hammer
Bruce & Elizabeth Hoelter
Brian & Clem Holloman-Kincaid
James Hurd
Julius & Elizabeth Katz
Walter & Murni Knoepfel
Lisa Lindelef
Leslie M. Lopato
George Melke
Doerte Murray
Pam Peirce & Ann Carey
Tom Robinson
Daniel Scharlin
Kristie Smith
Jeffrey W. Stallings
Scott Stauffer
Hilary P. Steinberg
Robert Venning
Frances Verrinder
Jon Wessel
Contributors (up to $99
Anonymous (2)
Janice Beyer
Jeffry Blanchfield
Ingo Bork
Christopher Canfield
Ursula Clark
Joan Cooper & Owen Lang
Tally Craig
Frederick Craw
Nora Cregan
Maureen Dubois*
Leslie Finlev
Elizabeth Frey
Laura Garrison
Carol Glanville
Dyanne Hammerquist
Clayton R. Jackson
Douglas Kent
Anne & Alexander Long
Linda McCoy
Sarah McCuskey
Kelsey Menehan
H. Jakob Elisabeth Michenfelder
Richard & Louise Nelson
Keiko Okubo
Zohar Perla
Luis Pine
Linda Price
Maureen Querio
Tuesday Ray
Ray Riess
Jennifer Risher
Alexis Rhodes Segel
David Sheehan
Mary Jeanne Stavish
Mary Jean Stempien &
Jim Stricker
Connie Tuft
Claudia Viek
Thomas Watrous
William I. Westcott, Jr.
Jennifer Woo
Paul H. Young Jr.
*Donor's gift was increased by a matching gift.
Gifts are recorded for 12 months; those received after April 10, 2015 will appear in our next concert program.
To become a member of our community of supporters, please visit our website www.sfbach.org
or send your tax-deductible contribution to:
SFBC, 2443 Fillmore Street, No. 195, San Francisco, CA 94115.
17
San Francisco Bach Choir Volunteers
Our sincere thanks to our many volunteers from within the choir and our community.
Their talents, energy, and many hundreds of hours keep the choir thriving throughout the year.
Walter Aab: stage crew
Alexandra Amati-Camperi: program notes, program staff
Tricia Bell: Board of Directors, mission and governance
committees, senior choirs project lead
Bill Bethke: rehearsal set-up, stage crew
Sue Bethke: rehearsal set-up, stage crew
Debra Boyce: pro bono tax preparation
Sylvia Braselmann: librarian, German pronunciation,
online learning center
Bruce Bruschi: stage crew
Mahala Bundy: fun and frolic facilitator, stage crew
Richard Buxbaum: Advisory Board
Bill Chiles: stage crew
Kathy Clement: Board of Directors, marketing committee,
section leader, program staff
Daniel Cockayne: stage crew
Polly Coote: translations
Robert Coote: Advisory Board, translations,program staff
Mark Davis: Board of Directors, governance committee,
section leader
Serena Fong: senior choirs project
Ellen B. Freed: online calendars
Jim Gasperini: stage crew
Paul Gerken: stage crew
Jan Gullett: stage crew
Scott Hamner: stage crew
Hallie Holtzman: Board of Directors, 80th anniversary
committee, section leader
Reg Hsu: stage crew
Michael Jordin: Board of Directors, equipment manager,
stage crew, section leader
Magdelena Klein: sectionals, German pronunciation
Louis Lao: stage crew
Barbara Livermore: choir ticket sales
Jason Maxham: stage crew
Éamonn McManus: stage crew
Kelsey Menehan: senior choirs project
Jack Miller: stage crew
Sally Nielsen: Board of Directors (treasurer), organization
and finance committees
Visit sfbach.org to:
Donate
Audition
Subscribe to our e-News
Join our mailing list
Like us on Facebook
Laurie Olsen: Advisory Board
Barbara Paschke: program editor, proofreading, choir CD
sales, senior choirs project
David Patterson: rehearsal recordings
Charles Pletcher: stage crew
David Raub: stage crew
Debra Schoenberg: Board of Directors
David Sheehan: webmaster, online box office
Sue Sherk: choir ticket sales, choir refreshments
Linda Spencer: fundraising advice
Judith Stone: Board of Directors (president), organization
and finance committees
Glenn Stover: Board of Directors, marketing committee,
choir attendance, fun and frolic facilitator
Joe Taff: choral part preparation
Susan Talabay: Board of Directors, audition coordinator,
section leader
James Thomassen: stage crew, choir nametags
Jon Wessel: stage crew
Nancy Weston: proofreading
Elisabeth Zurlinden: senior choirs project
Ushers for the 2014–2015 Season
Dan Priven, House Manager
Lupita Troncoso, Box Office Manager
Anne Averill, Larry Becker, Rhoda Becker, Al Bernstein,
Brian Bromberger, Karen Cilman, Bessie Citrin, Bob
Coote, Polly Coote, Irene Dogmatic, Roberta Duncan, Angelica Eisenhardt, Joy Esser, Olga Euben, Lavender Fogg,
Susan Ford, Paul Gierlach, Diana Greenleaf, Ilse Hadda,
Joan Hall-Feinberg, Carol Handelman, Pat Hendricks,
Julia Horvath, Anne-Lise Mitchell, Bonita Palmer, Maryann
Pomegranate, Lisa Quail, Roger Rose, Jan Seifert, Susan
Sherman, Ruth Suzuki, Deborah Todd, Ruth Tretbar, Dolly
Turnblad, Tony Tuttle, Linda Vallee, Dyana Vukovich,
Anabelle Wasserman
Conductor’s thanks: Steve Bailey, Mai-Linh Pham, Carri
Abrahms, Sylvia Braselmann, Barbara Paschke, Glenn
Stover, Bob & Polly Coote, Magdalena Klein, Joe Taff,
Martha Westland
JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
• Bring a friend to our next concert or bring a child for free
• Make a donation
• Join us as a singing member
• Link to our website on your blog or on other social networking sites
18
San Francisco Bach Choir
Magen Solomon, Artistic Director
Martha Westland, Managing Director
Steven Bailey, Accompanist
Sopranos
Tricia Bell
Jacquelien Bulterman-Bos
Maura Church
Joan Curry
Christine Dukey
Serena Fong
Carol Henri
Hallie Holtzman* Kelsey Menehan
Sally Nielsen
Zohar Perla
Naomi Peterkin
Lisa Sargent
Carolyn Spitz
Nancy Weston
Altos
Christine Bartels
Sue Bethke
Sylvia Braselmann
Mahala Bundy
Kathy Clement* Judy Goldstein
Barbara Livermore
Acacia Newlon
Laurie Olsen
Barbara Paschke
Theresa Patterson
Sue Sherk
Kristie Smith
Susan Talabay* Martha Westland
Elisabeth Zurlinden
Tenors
Walter Aab
John Allmen
Bill Chiles
Bob Coote
Mark Davis* Éamonn McManus
David Raub
Glenn Stover
Basses
Bill Bethke
Bruce Bruschi
Daniel Cockayne
Jim Gasperini
Paul Gerken
Jan Gullett
Scott Hamner
Reg Hsu
Louis Lao
Jason Maxham
Don Miller
Jack Miller
Charles Pletcher
Joe Taff*
James Thomassen
* section leader
San Francisco Bach Choir Board of Directors
Judy Stone, President, Sally Nielsen, Treasurer, Mark Davis, Secretary
Tricia Bell, Kathy Clement, Hallie Holtzman, Michael Jordin,
Debra Schoenberg, Glenn Stover, Susan Talabay
Advisory Board
Richard Buxbaum, Robert Coote, Susie Fong, Laurie Olsen
We especially want to thank members of the staff of Calvary Presbyterian Church
who have been so gracious and helpful to the choir.
Kathy Clement, program design; Barbara Paschke, program editor;
Alexandra Amati-Camperi, Polly Coote, Robert Coote, Magen Solomon,
and Martha Westland, program staff
19
Design: Clement Designs, San Francisco 415-752-6287. Copy and graphics © 2014–15, San Francisco Bach Choir.

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