A Carnival of Songs

Venue: Wang Gungwu Theatre, Graduate House, HKU
Date: 28 March, 2018 (Wednesday)

28 March (Wednesday), 6:30PM

Free Admission

This recital of vocal music by the great Italian genius Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), jointly presented by the HKU Graduate House and Musica Viva in commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the composer’s death. This programme consists of songs selected from Rossini’s collections Serate Musicali (Musical Evenings), La Regata Veneziana (The Venetian Boat Race), and Peche de Vieillese (Sins of Old Age), and arias from his operas Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) and La Cenerentola (Cinderella).

Programme

1. L’Invito (The Invitation)

Come, Ruggiero, come to your Eloisa, who cannot stay separated from you. Come to rest on my bosom. Feel my throbbing heart. Love invites you. Come, my life, come.

Phoebe Tam, soprano

2. L’Orgia (The Orgy)

Let’s sing of women and wine. Life is a joy between the two. I have love in my heart and wine in my head. What a pleasure, what a feast, what a lovely passion ! Let’s sing and dance. Life is a joy between Bacchus and Amor.

Samuel Huang, tenor

3. La Gita in Gondola (The Gondola Ride)

Row, boatman ! Fly, little boat ! Defy the sea ! Elvira is in my arms. The lagoon shimmers in calm. The pale moon crosses the sky. Life exists only in the kiss of love. Come to my heart, Elvira, and feel how it beats for you.

Sammy Chien, baritone

4. La Regata Veneziana (The Venetian Boat Race)

This a set of three songs expressing, in Venetian dialect, the feelings of anxiety, excitement and victory experienced by a young lady named Anzoleta during the three stages of the Venetian Boat Race as she watches her beloved gondolier, Momolo, winning the grand prize.
(a) Anzoleta before the race,
(b) Anzoleta when the race passes by,
(c) Anzoleta after the race.

Carol Lin, mezzo-soprano

5. La Danza (The Dance)

Now the moon is over the sea. The hour is beautiful for dancing. Anyone in love will leap up to join. Soon we will be dancing round and round. As long as the stars are in heaven, beautiful couples will dance all night. Mamma mia! Leaping, jumping, turning, spinning, faster, faster, round and round. Dancing is the world’s greatest pleasure, the most wonderful delight. Mamma mia ! Faster, faster, dance all night !

Samuel Huang, tenor

6. La Partenza (The Departure)

Now comes the painful moment. Nice, my Nice, goodbye. How can I live, my love, so far away from you. Wherever you are, my heart will always be close to you. Who knows if you will remember me.

Phoebe Tam, soprano

7. Le Lazzarone (The Vagabond)

To sleep under a pure sky near Mount Vesuvius, caressed by gentle breezes, is the vagabond’s happiness. Others may seek glory. I prefer to eat and drink, to play, to sing, to dance, and to enjoy the kisses of a frivolous love and the charming leisure of sweet destiny. My heart has only one desire: Napoli ! Napoli, to see you and die!

Sammy Chien, baritone

8. Nacqui all’affanno…Non piu mesta (No longer sad and weeping)

This aria is sung by Cinderella at the end of Rossini’s famous comic opera La Cenerentola, in which the protagonist describes how, upon being chosen by Prince Ramiro to be his bride, a magic spell suddenly changed her destiny. She promises to treat well all those who had maltreated her in the past. No longer sad and weeping, she will live happily ever after.

Carol Lin, mezzo-soprano

9. Ecco ridente in cielo (Smiling in heaven)

This is a cavatina sung by Count Almaviva at the beginning of Rossini’s most successful opera, The Barber of Seville, with which the Count serenades his beloved Rosina. Beautiful dawn is smiling in heaven, he sings, wake up and appear to me. Make this the moment of love and sweet contentment that has no equal.

Samuel Huang, tenor

10. Una voce poco fa (A voice echoes in my heart)

Moved by the Count’s serenade, Rosina feels that her heart has been wounded by the arrow of love. She swears that she will overcome all obstacles to win the man she loves and will play all kinds of tricks to defeat her guardian’s tyranny to restrict her liberty to love whoever she chooses.

Phoebe Tam, soprano

11. L’esule (The Exile)

Here, the sky is always smiling, the trees ever green. The sun is warm and the brooks rippling; flowers bloom around me. But this soil is not my homeland ! There is a queen among cities by the Ligurian Sea. There in Italy, that is my homeland!

Phoebe Tam, soprano

12. La Serenata (The Serenade)

The pale moon hides behind a beautiful veil. The heavens are smiling on us. Come with me, silently, into the dark wood. No one but love will know where we are hiding.

Phoebe Tam, soprano
Samuel Huang, tenor

13. Duetto di Due Gatti (Duet for Two Cats)

This duet, a brilliant example of Rossini’s comic genius, needs no explanation.

Phoebe Tam, soprano
Carol Lin, mezzo-soprano

14. Quartetto Pastorale (Pastoral Quartet)

Great powers fight each other, but farmers and shepherds live in harmony. Our forests give shelter to liberty. Hostile weapons do not prey on our poverty. The sun rises and sets protecting our tranquility. Our pastures offer rest to liberty.

Phoebe Tam, soprano
Carol Lin, mezzo-soprano
Samuel Huang, tenor
Sammy Chien, baritone

14. Canavale di Venezia (Carnival in Venice)

We are poor beggars who live on charity. Fair ladies, in your day of gaiety, do not deny us your kindness. We will take whatever is leftover, as the Carnival is coming to an end.

Phoebe Tam, soprano
Carol Lin, mezzo-soprano
Samuel Huang, tenor
Sammy Chien, baritone