Two Songs, for Tenor, Clarinet, Horn, Piano, Viola, and Contrabass (2019) [5’30”]

Event: IU JSoM Composition Recital
Date: 20:00, Dec 3, 2019
Location: Auer Hall, IU JSoM, Bloomington, IN, United States

Performers:
Ramson Issa, tenor
Mia Tomposen, clarinet
Tyler Taylor, horn
Matthew Schultheis, piano
Wennie Wei, viola
Broner McCoy, contrabass
Caio Guimarães, conductor

Two Songs, for Tenor, Clarinet, Horn, Piano, Viola, and Contrabass (2019) [5’30”]

Event: IU JSoM Composition Recital
Date: 19:00, Mar 19, 2019, premiere
Location: Recital Hall, IU JSoM, Bloomington, United States

Performers:
Issa Ransom, tenor
Lucille Berk, clarinet
Tyler Taylor, horn
Yuseok Seol, piano
Hippocrates Cheng, viola
William Kline, contrabass
Lang Chen, conductor

Program Note

This work consists of two songs, which are composed based on the two poems, “My Voice” and “Tædium Vitæ,” by the Irish poet Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900).

I. My Voice by Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900)

Within this restless, hurried, modern world
We took our hearts’ full pleasure – You and I,
And now the white sails of our ship are furled,
And spent the lading of our argosy.

But all this crowded life has been to thee
No more than lyre, or lute, or subtle spell
Of viols, or the music of the sea
That sleeps, a mimic echo, in the shell.

II. Tædium Vitæ by Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900)

To stab my youth with desperate knives, to wear
This paltry age’s gaudy livery,
To let each base hand filch my treasury,
To mesh my soul within a woman’s hair,
And be mere Fortune’s lackeyed groom,—I swear

I love it not! these things are less to me
Than the thin foam that frets upon the sea,
Less than the thistle-down of summer air
Which hath no seed: better to stand aloof
Far from these slanderous fools who mock my life

Knowing me not, better the lowliest roof
Fit for the meanest hind to sojourn in,
Than to go back to that hoarse cave of strife
Where my white soul first kissed the mouth of sin.

————————————-

《兩首藝術歌曲》（給男高音、單簧管、法國號、鋼琴、中提琴與低音提琴）(2019)[5’30”]

展演名稱：雅各布斯音樂學院作品呈現音樂會
演出日期：2019年12月3日，20:00
演出地點：印第安納大學雅各布斯音樂學院奧爾廳，布魯明頓市，印第安納州，美國

演出人員：
Ramson Issa, tenor
Mia Tomposen, clarinet
Tyler Taylor, horn
Matthew Schultheis, piano
Wennie Wei, viola
Broner McCoy, contrabass
Caio Guimarães, conductor

《兩首藝術歌曲》（給男高音、單簧管、法國號、鋼琴、中提琴與低音提琴）(2019)[5’30”]

展演名稱： 雅各布斯音樂學院作品呈現音樂會
演出日期：2019年3月19日，19:00，首演
演出地點：印第安納大學雅各布斯音樂學院演奏廳，布魯明頓市，印第安納州，美國

演出人員：
Issa Ransom, tenor
Lucille Berk, clarinet
Tyler Taylor, horn
Yuseok Seol, piano
Hippocrates Cheng, viola
William Kline, contrabass
Lang Chen, conductor

樂曲解說

這首聲樂作品包含兩首藝術歌曲，以詩人奧斯卡．王爾德（Oscar Wilde，1854－1900）的作品作為歌詞，並以器樂織體之變化所帶來的情境輔助歌唱者之徐律線條，表達歌詞之內容及其中蘊含的情緒。歌詞呈現了十九世紀末一位詩人對時局與社會變遷之無法預期而感受到的焦慮與希冀。