OK, so here are a few of the words from one of the pieces we performed last night for our second-of-three Summerfest concerts (I am not making this up):
"See'st thou these slave-maidens? They are beauties that I have imported from over the Caspian. Tell me which of them pleases you best, my lord; Straight-way I'll give you the maiden you choose for your own!"I, myself, didn't have to sing them (I was busy shrieking "Hail, Oh Great and Famous Khan!"), but it was part of the general story line from the opera, "Prince Igor" by Alexander Borodin, the "Polovetzian Dances" being the specific song. Yup. It's all about war, sex-slaves and all manner of mayhem (oh, and a little don't-we-have-a-beautiful-country-la-la thrown in). Of course, it's fabulous music, otherwise, and way fun to sing!. You've heard the primary musical theme of this piece all your life--"Stranger in Paradise"--a direct rip-off (though the words have been, say, altered some for obvious reasons). We actually tried learning it in Russian, at first, to blunt the impact of the goofy lyrics, but we didn't have enough collective extra brain cells to pull it off. Turns out the sound man made the subject moot by cutting our volume to almost nothing for that song--SOUND MEN (me shaking fist)!!
We perform three concerts this time of year. Last week was an indoor affair all about opera.We sang gorgeous pieces by Verdi ("Va Pensiero" from "Nabucco"), "The Humming Chorus" from "Madame Butterfly" (no kidding--it's just all of us humming the whole thing--and so beautiful!), the "Anvil Chorus" (accompanied by actual anvils) from Verdi's "Il Trovatore", and a couple pieces from G & S's "HMS Pinafore"--fun crowd-pleaser, and, on the music of which I have left, inadvertently, a substantial amount of my personal DNA in the form of blood from some little nick on my hand during rehearsal, not normally a particularly treacherous exercise. My first choir-related injury. A few quite accomplished opera singers performed several various lovely arias (including "Nessun Dorma") and we pulled off the world premier of a piece written by a local composer (one of us) about riding in a glider. Very dissonant and airy. Two a capella pieces we sang were Whitacre's "A Boy and a Girl" (listen to a much smaller group singing this rich and challenging creation at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg7kOOkP8wo) and an amazing arrangement of "Shenandoah". I'd say the whole evening was rather wonderful--except for the sound man having kept the chorus volume too low during most of it (SOUND MEN [another fist]!!!).
For the outdoor-picnic event last night, besides performing the previously-mentioned, "Rape and Kill", we accompanied the orchestra for the theme from "Saving Private Ryan" (all "oohed")--SO pretty!! And also, to end the program (which was mostly orchestra playing some truly great movie music) we did Tchaikovsky's magnificent "1812 Overture"--which is, as you know, quite majestic and exciting and, uh, militaristic, as well. The vocal parts are truly grand and evocative--and include the words, "God save our gracious Tsar, valiant and righteous (?), reigning in glory, reigning against his foes!" (the tune borrowed for "God the Omnipotent", a popular hymn). Music can (and always has) help sell war and misogyny, among other things.
(Oh, and there's Tom eating our picnic dinner before the crowd filled in around him. And that's me--and a few others--singing in the tent behind the orchestra)
Next week, on Friday night the 3rd of July and another outdoor gig, we'll sing our last performance of the season. The obvious theme here is American patriotism. Eight pieces, from "Song of Democracy" (a Walt Whitman poem set too music) to a repeat of "Shenandoah" (my favorite) with, yes, a bit of war-type music in between, will wrap it up for the summer.
I hope that before Friday, our director, Ryan, will have time for a little chat with YOU-KNOW-WHO (fist). I'll let you know how it goes. Hail Great Khan!
