Bard Music Festival 2007 Schedule of Events

Concert

Weekend 1: 18th Annual Bard Music Festival

WEEKEND ONE AUGUST 10–12, 2007
Grandeur and Intimacy in Victorian England

Among Elgar’s compositions, his “Enigma” Variations and the series of Pomp and Circumstance marches most clearly embody the poles that defined Victorian England: imperialist expansion and an inward-looking pride, sentiment, and romanticizing nostalgia.

Elgar’s status changed virtually overnight with the first performance in 1899 of the “Enigma” Variations. Premiered by Hans Richter, the internationally renowned conductor and one of Wagner’s devoted protégés, these coruscating orchestral variations revealed fully for the first time the composer’s astonishing orchestral virtuosity. Elgar’s sudden achievement of a position of preeminence as an English composer is itself a subject of fascination, since as a provincial, middle-class autodidact and Catholic, he was subject to ostracism. It is ironic that it would be his music that would come to embody early 20th-century English private and public sentiment, not only within the British Empire, but also to audiences all over the world.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 10

PROGRAM ONE
Elgar: From Autodidact to “Master of the King’s Musick”
SOSNOFF THEATER

7:30 pm Preconcert Talk: Leon Botstein
8 pm Performance: Daedalus Quartet; Piers Lane, piano; Bard Festival Chamber Players; Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; members of the American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Sursum Corda for organ, brass, strings, Op. 11
Harmony Music No. 4
Chanson de nuit, Op. 15, No. 1
Chanson de matin, Op. 15, No. 2
Salut d’amour, Op. 12
Sevillana, Op. 7
Piano Quintet in A Minor, Op. 84
Choral Works

Tickets: $20, 35, 45


SATURDAY, AUGUST 11

PANEL ONE
Elgar the Man and His Worlds
OLIN HALL
10 am–noon
Christopher H. Gibbs, moderator; Byron Adams, Diana McVeagh
Free and open to the public

PROGRAM TWO
Music in the Era of Queen Victoria
OLIN HALL

1 pm Preconcert Talk: Christina Bashford
1:30 pm Performance: Daedalus Quartet; Thomas Meglioranza, baritone; Simone Dinnerstein, piano; Anna Polonsky, piano; Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
O Salutaris Hostia
Ave verum, Op. 2, No. 1
Ecce sacerdos magnus
Johann Baptist Cramer (1771–1858), Introduzione ed aria all’inglese, Op. 65, for piano
W. Sterndale Bennett (1816–75), Impromptu, Op. 12, No. 2, for piano; Piano Sextet, Op. 8
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–47), Fantasia for piano in E Major,“The Last Rose of Summer,” Op. 15
Songs and glees by T. F. Walmisley (1783–1866); John Stainer (1840–1901); C. E. Horn (1786–1849); Liza Lehmann (1862–1918); J. L. Hatton (1809–1886); and Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900)
Choral works by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy; S. S.
Wesley (1810–76); and F. A. Gore Ouseley (1825–89)

Tickets: $35


SPECIAL EVENT
Pianistic Anglophilia: Elgar, Ireland, and Grainger
OLIN HALL
5 pm Performance with commentary by Kenneth Hamilton
Free and open to the public

PROGRAM THREE
Elgar and the “English Musical Renaissance”
SOSNOFF THEATER

7 pm Preconcert Talk: Byron Adams
8 pm Performance: Piers Lane, piano; American
Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
In the South (Alassio), Op. 50
Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4, Op. 39, in G Major
Funeral March from Grania and Diarmid, Op. 42
Variations on an Original Theme (“Enigma”), Op. 36
Hubert Parry (1848–1918), Symphonic Variations
Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924), Concert Variations on an English Theme (“Down among the Dead Men”), for piano and orchestra, Op. 71

Tickets: $25, 40, 55

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12

PANEL TWO
Das Land ohne Musik?: Views of British Music in the 19th Century
OLIN HALL
10 am–noon
Christina Bashford, moderator; Kenneth Hamilton; Barrymore Laurence Scherer; Richard Wilson
Free and open to the public

PROGRAM FOUR
Elgar and the Victorian Spirit
OLIN HALL

1 pm Preconcert Talk: Christopher Fifield
1:30 pm Performance: Bard Festival Chamber Players; Claremont Trio; William Ferguson, tenor; Weston Hurt, baritone; Melvin Chen, piano

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Six Songs
Ethel Smyth (1858–1944), Variations on “Sweet Robin,” for flute, oboe, and piano
Arthur Somervell (1863–1937), Six Songs, from Maud
Hubert Parry (1848–1918), Piano Trio in E Minor
Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924), Serenade (Nonet), Op. 95

Tickets: $35

PROGRAM FIVE
Imperial Pomp and Pastoral Nostalgia: British Music for Brass and Strings
SOSNOFF THEATER

4:30 pm Preconcert Talk: Richard Wilson
5:30 pm Performance: Laura Ahlbeck, oboe; Randolph Bowman, flute; Gramercy Brass Orchestra of New York, John Henry Lambert, conductor and music director; members of the American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director; and others

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Civic Fanfare, for brass
Severn Suite, Op. 87
Serenade in E Minor, Op. 20
Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47
Granville Bantock (1868–1946), Symphonic Prelude: Prometheus Unbound
Richard Strauss (1864–1949), Feierlicher Einzug der Ritter des Johanniterordens
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958), Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
Gustav Holst (1874–1934), Fugal Concerto, for flute, oboe, and strings
John Ireland (1879–1962), Comedy Overture
Percy Grainger (1882–1961), Irish Tune from County Derry

Tickets: $25, 40, 55

Weekend 2: 18th Annual Bard Music Festival

WEEKEND TWO AUGUST 17–19, 2007
From Romanticism to Modernism: World War I and the End of the Long 19th Century

The fin-de-siècle was a period greatly occupied with questions of theology, science, ethics, aesthetics, politics, and psychology, which were discussed with tremendous urgency in the works of Elgar’s contemporaries, such as Oscar Wilde, the pre-Raphaelite painters, J.M. Barrie (of Peter Pan fame), John Ruskin, Walter Pater, George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, and John Singer Sargent. But these questions also left a mark on music. Elgar had mainly looked abroad for inspiration, and for the wide range of disparate influences that contributed to the evolution of his inimitable style, among them he music of Brahms, Wagner, Fauré, and Richard Strauss. These influences made him a remarkably cosmopolitan figure, especially within the insular context of the British musical world of his era.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 17

SYMPOSIUM
Charles Darwin and Cardinal Newman:
Religion, Science, and Technology in the Elgarian Era
MULTIPURPOSE ROOM, BERTELSMANN CAMPUS CENTER
10:00 am – 12 noon
1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Deirdre d’Albertis, moderator; and others
Free and open to the public

SPECIAL SHOWING
Elgar on Film
WEIS CINEMA, BERTELSMANN CAMPUS CENTER
4 pm
Free and open to the public

PROGRAM SIX
Elgar and the Salon
SOSNOFF THEATER

7:30 pm Preconcert Talk: Sophie Fuller
8:00 pm Performance: Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano; William Ferguson, tenor; Jupiter String Quartet; Jeremy Denk, piano; Piers Lane, piano

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Concert Allegro, Op. 46
Dream Children, Op. 43 (arr. for piano)
Echo’s Dance, from The Sanguine Fan, Op. 81 (arr. for piano)
May Song
Skizze
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924), La bonne chanson, Op. 61
Frank Bridge (1879–1941), Piano Quintet in D Minor
Songs by Maude Valerie White (1855–1937); Ethel Smyth (1858–1944); Hubert Parry (1848–1918); and Roger Quilter (1877–1953)

Tickets: $20, 35, 45

SATURDAY, AUGUST 18

PROGRAM SEVEN
“God Bless the Music Halls”: Victorian and Edwardian Popular Song in America and Britain
OLIN HALL

10 am Performance with commentary by Derek Scott, with William Ferguson, tenor; Thomas Meglioranza, baritone; Gloria Parker, mezzo-soprano; Tonna Miller, soprano; and others

Tickets: $30

PROGRAM EIGHT
The Great War and Modern Music
OLIN HALL

1 pm Preconcert Talk: Alain Frogley
1:30 pm Performance: Bard Festival String Quartet; Claremont Trio; Laura Flax, clarinet; Weston Hurt, baritone; Ieva Jokubviciute, piano; Jennifer Koh, violin; Scott Williamson, tenor

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Violin Sonata in E Minor, Op. 82
Carillon, Op. 75
Claude Debussy (1862–1918), Berceuse heroique, for piano; Noel des enfants qui n’ont plus de maison, for voice and piano
John Ireland (1879–1962), Piano Trio No. 2
Arthur Bliss (1891–1975), Clarinet Quintet
Songs by George Butterworth (1885–1916) and Ivor Gurney (1890–1937)

Tickets: $35

PROGRAM NINE
Elgar: The Imperial Self-Portrait
SOSNOFF THEATER

7 pm Preconcert Talk: Christopher H. Gibbs
8 pm Performance: American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Crown of India Suite, Op. 66
Falstaff, a symphonic study, Op. 68
Sospiri, Op. 70
Symphony No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 63

Tickets: $25, 40, 55

SUNDAY, AUGUST 19

PANEL THREE
Constructions of Masculinity from Dorian Gray to Father Brown
OLIN HALL
10 am–noon
Byron Adams, moderator; Leon Botstein; Richard Dellamora; Sophie Fuller
Free and open to the public

PROGRAM TEN
Elgar and Modernism
OLIN HALL

1 pm Preconcert Talk: Diana McVeagh
1:30 pm Performance: Carolyn Betty, soprano; Bard Festival String Quartet; Piers Lane, piano; Sophie Shao, cello; Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; Jeremy Denk, piano

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 83
Frederick Delius (1862–1934), Sonata for cello and piano
Gustav Holst (1874–1934), Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Third Group
Cyril Scott (1879–1970), Two Pieces, Op. 47, for piano
Herbert Howells (1892–1983), Piano Quartet in A Minor, Op. 21
William Walton (1902–1983), Three Façade Songs

Tickets: $35

PROGRAM ELEVEN
The Culture of Religion: The Dream of Gerontius
SOSNOFF THEATER

4:30 pm Preconcert Talk: Charles McGuire
5:30 pm Performance: Carolyn Betty, soprano; Vinson Cole, tenor; John Hancock, baritone; Jane Irwin, mezzo-soprano; Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Selections from The Kingdom, Op. 51
The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38

Tickets: $25, 40, 55

Weekend 3: 18th Annual Bard Music Festival

WEEKEND THREE OCTOBER 26–27, 2007
Nostalgia, Patriotism, and Aesthetic Ideals

In a review of this year’s Bard Music Festival Weekend Two, the New York Times wrote, “All of these events were well attended and enthusiastically discussed afterward, standard operating procedure for a festival that is part boot camp for the brain, part spa for the spirit.”

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, AND
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27

PROGRAM ONE
Absolute and Program Music:
English Music at the Turn of the Century
SOSNOFF THEATER

7 pm Preconcert Talk: Byron Adams
8 pm Performance: Shawn Moore, violin; American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director

Of their performance this summer, as the resident orchestra of the Bard Music Festival, the New York Times wrote, “. . . the [American Symphony] orchestra, superbly responsive to Mr. Botstein’s driven interpretation, sounded exceptional.”

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Pomp and Circumstance March, Op. 39, No. 1, in D Major
The Sanguine Fan, Op. 81
Symphony No. 1 in A-flat major, Op. 55
Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924)
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 74

Tickets: $25, 40, 55

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27

PANEL
Anglophilia and Imperialism
OLIN HALL
10 am–noon
Ian Buruma, and others
Free and open to the public

PROGRAM TWO
Elgar and the Next Generation
OLIN HALL

2:30 pm Preconcert Talk: Peter Laki
3 pm Performance: Faculty and students of The Bard College Conservatory of Music

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84
John Ireland (1879–1962)
Piano works
Frank Bridge (1879–1941)
String Quartet No. 1 in E minor (“Bologna”)
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958)
On Wenlock Edge, for tenor, string quartet, and piano

Tickets: $25