Castelnuovo-Tedesco The Divan of Moses Ibn Ezr Ezra a COMPLETE MUSIC FOR SOPRANO AND GUIT GUI TAR
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco 1895-1968 The Divan of Moses Ibn Ezra A cycle of Songs for Voice and Guitar Op.207 Part I - Songs of Wandering 1. When the morning of life had passed 2. The dove that nests in the tree- top 3. Wrung with anguish… Part II - Songs of Friendship 4. Sorrow shatters my heart 5. Fate has blocked the way 6. O brook
2’38 1’59 1’40
2’14 4’15 1’43
Part III - Of wine, and of the delights of the sons of men 7. Drink deep, my friend 0’46 8. Dull and sad is the sky 1’04 9. The garden dons a coat of many hues 1’31
Part IV - The World and its vicissitudes 10. Men and children of this world 1’38 11. The world is like a woman of folly 0’50 12. Only in God I trust 2’03 Part V - The Transience of the World 13. Where are the graves 0’50 14. Let man remember all his days 1’26 15. I have seen upon the earth 1’45 16. Come now, to the Court of Death 1’10 17. Peace upon them 1’50 18. I behold ancients graves 0’58 Epilogue 19. Wouldst thou look upon me in my grave?
Recording: 5-7 September 2016, Bartok Studio, Bernareggio (MB), Italy
2’22
20. Ballata dall’Esilio (based on a Lyric by Guido Cavalcanti )
23. Romance del Conde Arnaldos 2’54 4’42 24. La Ermita de San Simon
21. Arise (from “Cymbaline”) From the Shakespeare Songs Vol 6 No.2
1’26
22. Seals of Love (from “Measure for Measure”) From the Shakeaspeare Songs” Vol. 4 No.2 0’53
Joanna Klisowska soprano · Giulio Tampalini guitar
2’15
Coming to terms with failing health during the last years of his life, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco wrote a number of works imbued with reflections on his own life, and on the wider perspective of the human condition. In the very years in which he was completing his autobiography “A Life in Music”, which ends with the events of 1961, he started composing “24 Caprichos de Goya”, a collection of pieces for the guitar that reveal his identification with Francisco Goya’s view of the world. Five years later, in 1966, he found himself drawn by the works of the Spanish poet of Jewish religion, Moses ibn Ezra (1055/1060-c. 1138), on account of t heir mutual experience of exile. Born in Granada, Moses ibn Ezra was forced to take refuge in Castille following the conquest of his homeland by the Berber Almoravids (though some claim that family discord was the real reason for this move), whereas Castelnuovo-Tedesco, who was also Jewish, had left Italy for the United States in 1939, having foreseen the fate that others of his faith were to meet in Europe. Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s collection of lyrics for voice and guitar is based on a selection of the poems included in Moses ibn Ezra’s most important work, “Divan”. What the composer set to music was not the original Hispanic Hebrew text, however, but an English version by an unknown translator. The composer’s knowledge of Hebrew would not have been sufficient to allow him to translate it himself, so he probably used an existing translation (possibly one that he himself had commissioned) that he was then able to adapt to the requirements of the music he had in mind. The 19 poems in the collection are divided into five parts, the first four of which consist of three songs, while the fifth comprises five. The titles of each section indicate the mood of both the texts and the music, and an epilogue concludes the cycle. Under the title “Songs of Wandering”, the first section contains three songs that revolve around the subject of exile experienced late in life (“And the path of my years was shortened, exile called to me”), and how this can urge the wayfarer to beg pity of the dove (“Mourn, little dove, mourn for the wanderer”) and to succumb to despair (“My mind is wearied, my strength decays”). The second section bears the title “Songs of Friendship”, and begins with a poem that embodies a passionate defence of a forbidden love (“Sorrow shatters my heart;
and men distress it with blame because it follows love”), followed by a melancholy song of despondency for the loss of a friendship (“Fate has blocked the way to the garden of friendship”) that ultimately turns into proud resolve and the determination “Then shall I walk through the darkness unto the light of my friend”). The third poem is a message sent to a distant friend on the waters of a stream (“O brook, whose hurrying waters go to the far land that holds my friend, by thee, my greetings let me send”). The subject matter of the third section would seem to be less bitter (“Of Wine, and of the Delights of the Sons of Men”), even though the prevailing tone is that of sorrow and defeat. The first song exhorts the friend to revive the poet if he should die while drinking a cup of wine; a gloomy atmosphere surrounds the second, which embodies a disconsolate invocation (“Them that weary, or that faint I restore”); and it is only in the third piece that the light of spring suggests a ray of hope and consolation (“The new-born flowers acclaim the new-born Spring”). The fourth section turns a sorrowful eye outwards (“The World and its Vicissitudes”), beginning with a grave expression of faith ( “Men are children of this world, yet hath God set eternity in their hearts”) that contrasts markedly with the next piece, a sort of exhortation in the name of wisdom to banish the insidious madness of the world, represented in symbolic terms by a “woman of folly”. This moment of fear then fades into a gentle prayer that concludes the section with the comforting invocation: “Only in God I trust…”. The fifth and last section comes across as a dialogue in the poet’s own mind as he resigns himself to the idea of death: “Where are the graves…” is the first song, a sort of prelude to the elegy of memories (“Let man remember all his days…”) with their distant visions of palaces and monuments that speak for transient glory and forgotten deeds and inhabitants (“Where are their souls and where their bodies?”). The following invocation, “Come now, to the Court of Death”, thus comes across as ineluctable, while an aura of consolation accompanies the viaticum “Peace upon them”. Like an aria from a requiem, “I behold ancient graves” expresses the yearning for eternal peace in the silence of the tomb.
The epilogue suggests the last words addressed to the son (“Wouldst thou look upon me in my grave?”), where there is no time or space left for illusion, but a sort of fading into nothingness (“I am like a prey in the talons of my dust”). As in his earlier collection based on Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Castelnuovo-Tedesco completely merges the poetic text with the music, deriving melody from the emotional depth of the poem and interweaving voice and instrument to create a single tapestry of great dramatic coherence. In so doing he adds a new chapter to the great European Lieder tradition, regardless of its intrinsic chronology. In 1956 Castelnuovo-Tedesco had set to music the song of another Italian exile, the 13th century poet Guido Cavalcante, who was also a Florentine, and whose verse he particularly enjoyed. The outcome was the highly touching “Ballata dall’esilio”, with its uniquely spare, understated guitar score. Universally recognized as a masterpiece of the genre, the composition paves the way for “The Divan of Moses ibn Ezra” a decade later. Substantially different in mood from the “Divan” and the “Ballata” are the two songs on poems by William Shakespeare that are also included in this recording. Written in 1921 and 1923, when the composer was still young, they speak for his great love of Shakespeare’s plays, although they actually derive from “The Passionate Pilgrim”, an anthology of poems attributed to Shakespeare. Originally written for voice and piano, they were later arranged for voice and guitar by CastelnuovoTedesco himself. Different again are the colourful folktale “La Ermita de San Simon” and the “Romance del Conde Arnaldos”, which have more in common with the early Spanish “Canciones”. The former was composed in 1934, while the latter dates back to 1935 and was included in the second series of the “Romances Viejos”. Here again the original versions were for voice and piano, and were arranged by the composer for voice and guitar. © Angelo Gilardino Translated by Kate Singleton
Fly to Freedom, by Ernesto Galizia
Negli ultimi anni della sua vita, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, consapevole della sua delicata salute, scrisse alcune opere in cui meditava sulla sua storia personale e, più ampiamente, sulla condizione umana: proprio mentre terminava di scrivere l’autobiografia “Una vita di musica” (che termina con gli eventi del 1961), egli mise mano alla composizione della raccolta di brani per chitarra intitolata “24 Caprichos de Goya”, nella quale si identificava con la visione del mondo di Francisco Goya; e cinque anni dopo, nel 1966, si accostava all’opera del poeta spagnolo, di religione ebraica, Moses ibn Ezra (1055/1060-1138?). Il tema in cui sorgeva l’affinità tra il poeta e il compositore era quello dell’esilio, che entrambi avevano patito: Moses ibn Ezra, nato e residente a Granada, era stato costretto a rifugiarsi in Castiglia dopo la conquista della sua città da parte degli almoravidi (ma, secondo alcuni, per dissidi con la sua famiglia), mentre Castelnuovo-Tedesco,anch’egli ebreo, aveva abbandonato l’Italia per gli Stati Uniti nel 1939, presagendo la sorte che sarebbe toccata alla sua stirpe in Europa. La raccolta di liriche per voce e chitarra scritta da Castelnuovo-Tedesco è basata su una selezione tratta dalle poesie di Moses ibn Ezra incluse nel “Diwan”, opera fondamentale dell’autore. Esse non furono però musicate nell’ebraico ispanico del testo originale, ma in una versione inglese della quale il compositore non accreditò alcun traduttore. Egli non conosceva l’ebraico abbastanza a fondo da poterne ricavare il testo inglese: è dunque da supporre che si sia servito di una traduzione non pubblicata (forse preparata appositamente per lui da un esperto di sua fiducia), alla quale apportò probabilmente qualche modifica per adattarla alle esigenze del discorso musicale. Le diciannove liriche della raccolta sono divise in cinque sezioni; le prime quattro contengono tre liriche ciascuna; l’ultima, cinque; infine, un epilogo conclude il ciclo. I titoli di ciascuna sezione ci guidano nella comprensione del carattere, sia dei testi, sia della musica. La prima sezione è intitolata “Songs of Wandering”, e le tre poesie che la compongono vertono sul tema dell’esilio sopraggiunto in tarda età (“And the path
of my years was shortened, exile called to me”) che induce il viandante a chiedere la compassione del colombo (“Mourn, little dove, mourn for the wanderer”) e ad abbandonarsi all’angoscia (“My mind is weared, my strenght decays”). La seconda sezione, intitolata “Songs of Friendship”, inizia con una poesia che si erge nell’appassionata difesa di un amore proibito (“Sorrow shatters my heart; and men distress it with blame because it follows love”), seguita da una cupa canzone di disfatta per la perdita di un’amicizia (“Fate has blocked the way to the garden of friendship”), ma poi convertita in un fiero proposito di rivalsa (“Then shall I walk through the darkness unto the light of my f riend”); la terza poesia è un messaggio inviato a un amico lontano sulle acque di un ruscello (“O brook, whose hurrying waters go to the far land that molds my friend, by thee, my greetings let be sent”). La terza sezione mostra un tema apparentemente meno amaro (“Of Wine, and of the Delights of the Sons of Men”), anche se poi svolto in tono di compianto e di sconfitta: la prima canzone esorta l’amico a risuscitare il poeta qualora egli muoia nell’atto di bere una coppa di vino; la seconda assume dal fosco paesaggio il motivo per un’oscura invocazione (“Them that weary, or that faint I restore”), e solo nel terzo brano filtra un raggio di speranza e di consolazione nella luce di una nuova primavera (“The new-born flowers acclain the new-born Spring”). La quarta sezione rivolge uno sguardo dolente verso l’esterno (“The World and Its Vicissitudes”) e inizia con un canto grave ma intriso di fede (“Men are children of this world, yet hath God set eternity in their hearts”), al quale si oppone in forte contasto l’agitazione del successivo brano, quasi uno scongiuro che esorta, in nome della saggezza, ad allontanare l’insidia della follia del mondo, della quale una “woman of folly” è rappresentazione allegorica. Questo momento di paura si placa nella dolcezza di una preghiera nel canto che conclude la sezione, e che inizia con la consolante invocazione: “Only in God I trust…”. La quinta e ultima sezione sembra un dialogo tra il poeta e sé stesso, nel segno di una rassegnata accettazione della morte: “Where are the graves…” è il primo canto, quasi un preludio all’elegia dei ricordi (“Let man remember all his days…”)
che evocano lontane visioni di palazzi e monumenti, segni di glorie effimere e ormai immemori dei loro artefici e abitanti (“Where are their souls and where their bodies?”). Inesorabile, sorge l’invocazione del canto “Come now, to the Court of Death”, e poi, con tenerezza misericordiosa, una preghiera di viatico (“Peace upon them”) e, in un’aria da requiem, un anelito verso la pace eterna nella quiete delle tombe (“I behold ancient graves”). L’epilogo è un estremo saluto rivolto al figlio (“Wouldst thou look upon me in my grave?”): il canto non si apre a nessuna illusione, ma a una sorta di dissolvimento nel nulla eterno ( “I am like a prey in the talons of my dust”). Come già nella raccolta dei Sonetti di Shakespeare, Castelnuovo-Tedesco crea una totale identità tra testo poetico e musica, facendo sorgere la linea melodica dalla profondità emotiva della poesia e unendo la voce e lo strumento in una inscindibile coerenza drammatica, nel solco della grande tradizione liederistica europea di cui egli fu, sebbene anacronisticamente, un erede privilegiato. Quasi come un preludio a “The Divan of Moses ibn Ezra”, Castelnuovo-Tedesco aveva fin dal 1956 messo in musica il canto di un esule, il suo illustre – e da lui amatissimo – conterraneo Guido Cavalcanti: alla struggente “Ballata dall’esilio” il compositore aggiunse un soffio di melodica dolcezza, resa ancora più tenera dall’adozione di una scrittura chitarristica spoglia, priva di ogni ornamento virtuosistico, si direbbe francescana. In questa composizione, l’autore tocca uno dei suoi vertici nella lirica vocale da camera, il genere in cui anche i suoi critici più severamente avversi gli hanno riconosciuto di aver dato prove di assoluto valore musicale. Assai lontane dal “Divan” e anche dalla “Ballata” , nel tempo e nell’indole poetico-musicale, sono le due liriche su testo di William Shakespeare incluse in questo programma. Furono scritte nel 1921 e nel 1923 dall’allora giovane compositore fiorentino, appassionato cultore del teatro shakesperiano. Si tratta di estratti dalla vasta collezione intitolata “The Passionate Pilgrim”, per voce e pianoforte. Le versioni
per voce e chitarra furono approntate successivamente dallo stesso autore. Di carattere ancora diverso, affine a quello delle antiche “canciones” ispaniche, sono il colorito racconto popolaresco “La Ermita de San Simon” (1934) e “Romance del Conde Arnaldos”, composto nel 1935 e incluso nella seconda serie dei “Romances Viejos”: anche in questo caso si tratta di versioni per voce e chitarra di originali stesure per voce e pianoforte. © Angelo Gilardino
Joanna Klisowska, soprano - was born in Wroclaw, Poland, where she began her musical education, first as a violinist, and then as a singer at the Academy of Music in Professor B. E. Werner’s class. She then attended the baroque singing course directed by C. Ansermet in Milan, and graduated with honours from a two-year postgraduate course at the Faculty of Early Music at the Musikhochschule Trossingen under the direction of Ch. Hilz and M.K. Kiehr. She also studied with the famous Polish singer Jolanta Zmurko and attended numerous courses devoted to baroque music performance led by G. Banditelli, P. Kooij, B. Schlick, J. Christensen, L. Brunmayr-Tutz, inter alia. Specialized in performing music of the baroque and classical periods, Joanna Klisowska is also interested in late 19th century French music, Lied and contemporary music. Her busy concert schedule has led her to work with C. Astronio, G. Capuano, R. King, B. Kuijken, L. Ghielmi, V. Luks P. Nemeth, P. Neumann, M. Schuldt-Jensen, M. Toporowski, Ch. Toet, R. Vettori as well as with ensembles such as Accademia
della Arcadia, Artsemble, Bozen Baroque Ensemble, Il Canto di Orfeo , Collegium 1704, Divina Armonia, Immortal Bach Ensemble, Stuttgarter Vocal Ensemble, Mitteleuropea Orchestra Barocca, La Verdi Barocca. She has taken part in numerous festivals, including Bologna Festival, Lucerne Festival, Utrecht Early Music Festival, Festival Ambronay, Rheingau Musik Festival, Wratislavia Cantans, Settimane Barocche, Musica e Poesia a S. Maurizio, Festival Hendlowski [Handel Festival], Festival Internazionale di Danza e di Musica Antica, Festival Brezice, Festival di Musica Barocca di Rovino, Festival Mozart, Maj z Muzyka Dawna [May with Early Music], Miedzynarodowy Festiwal Muzyki Organowej i Kameralnej [International Festival of Organ and Chamber Music], Musica Elettronica Nuova. Apart from her Europe-wide concert schedule, she also leads educational activities and master classes. For two years, she was a jury member for the Concorso Internazionale di Musica Antica, which takes place in Pienza (Italy). With G. Capuano and Il Canto di Orfeo group, she is currently recording all the oratorios of Carissimi and Rossi. Her recordings also include the recently rediscovered Oratorium Musicum “Der Mensch, ein Gottesmörder” by L. Mozart with the Bolzano Baroque Ensemble conducted by Claudio Astronio for the Amadeus label, Motets by F. A. Bonporti recorded for the Austrian ORF label (Alte Musik) , Responsoria by J.D. Zelenka with Collegium 1704 and Vaclav Luks (Akccent 2012), and an album of sacred music by Henry Purcell for soprano and bass with the participation of P. Kooij for the Stradivarius label (It aly 2012).
Giulio Tampalini has been hailed internationally as one of the most popular and charismatic classical guitarists, and as such he tours regularly and extensively in his country and abroad (La Fenice Opera Theatre Venice, Rome Parco della Musica, Shubert Theatre Tremont Boston U.S.A., Teatro Renascença Porto Alegre Brazil, Ithaca College New York U.S.A., Qintai Grand Theatre Wuhan China, Cearte Arts Centre Baja California Mexico, Muhsin E rtug˘rul Theatre Istanbul Turkey, Safadi Foundation Lebanon, Nadine Chaudier Thetare Avignon France, Musée international de la Croix-Rouge Geneve Switzerland, Salle Jacques Huisman Théâtre National Bruxelles Belgium). Winner of the Arts and Culture Prize (Milan, Italy 2014), he has recorded over 25 albums and has played in more than 2000 concerts worldwide. He has won many awards at major international guitar competitions, including the “Narciso Yepes” Competition in Sanremo (chairman: Narciso Yepes); the International Rome Competition in 1996 and 2000; “De Bonis” I nternational Competition in Cosenza; “Pittaluga” International Competition in Alessandria; “Fernando Sor” International Competiton
in Rome and the “Andrés Segovia” International Competiton in Granada. In 2001 he performed at the Christmas concert in the Vatican in honour of the Pope. Apart from his work as a soloist, he also plays chamber music, and performs with orchestras, choirs, strings, percussions, saxophone and many other different ensembles, including the Soloists of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. In 2003 his double album “Francisco Tarrega: Complete Works for Guitar” won the Golden Guitar award at the I nternational Guitar Meeting in Alessandria as “Best CD of the year”. Among his other notable albums are: the “Concierto de Aranjuez” by Joaquin Rodrigo for guitar and orchestra, recorded with the Orchestra “Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli”; all the major guitar works by Angelo Gilardino; the complete Six Rossinianas by Mauro Giuliani; the Concerto No.1 Op.99, the Quintet Op.143 and the Romancero Gitano by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, recorded with the Haydn Symphony Orchestra; the complete works for guitar by Miguel Llobet; and a DVD containing the complete solo guitar works by Heitor Villa-Lobos. Giulio Tampalini is a tenured Professor at the Adria Conservatory of Music (Italy) and he is regularly invited to give master classes all over Europe. He plays guitars made by the English guitar maker Philip Woodfield.
