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Happy 450th Birthday, Shakespeare!
Today, 23 April, is his birthday. Shakespeare is precisely 450 years old. Verdi is 200 years old and Mäntyjärvi 50 years old and still living! Such beautiful round numbers for the three principle creative sources behind the music we shall sing this term. How groovy!
Jaakko Mäntyjärvi FOUR SHAKESPEARE SONGS
Beautiful and challenging a Capella choral music from the Finnish master.
Here is a clip from Come away, Death courtesy of YouTube:
Jaakko Mäntyjärvi (b. 1963) is a Finnish translator and composer. Most of his output as a choral composer consists of choral works, some 100 of which have been published to date. He describes himself as an eclectic traditionalist. From 2000 to 2005 he was composer-in-residence of the Tapiola Chamber Choir, and he has also taught a course in the history of choral music at the Sibelius
· Academy in Helsinki.
More info here:
http://www.jaakkomantyjarvi.fi/CVEN.html
Giuseppe Verdi OTELLO, OPENING OF ACT ONE.
The extract from Verdi's Otello that we will sing is the first 12 minutes of this YouTube clip:
We will sing it in Italian.
Our excerpt is the opening of the whole opera, top of Act I, and we are in a seaport in Cyprus. It is night and a storm rages. The Cypriots are gathered at the harbour waiting for the arrival of Otello's ship. The storm grows in intensity as the safety of the ship is in doubt. Women from the island join the men in a chorus calling upon God to deliver the ship and their General (Dio, fulgor della bufera!). The mainsail breaks and the ship heads toward the breakers. The crowd cries for help as Iago comments to Roderigo, "Let the sea be her tomb!" At that moment, the ship is saved, much to everyone's relief. Otello bursts upon the scene proclaiming victory over the Turks. (Esultate!) The Cypriots join in the cheers proclaiming, "Long Live Otello!" The storm begins to disperse. Iago approaches Roderigo and asks about his thoughts (Roderigo, ebben). Roderigo is upset about Desdemona and how to win her love. Iago promises Desdemona to him: "No woman's weak vow is too difficult for my talents." He adds that the reason for his hatred of the Moor is Cassio. "Cassio usurped my rank - rank I earned many times over in battle." He adds, "I would not want an Iago around me." He leads Roderigo upstage to plot their course as a bonfire begins to blaze and roar. The Cypriots gather around it praising the fire (Fuoco di gioa).
Here is a translation of the libretto into English.
ACT ONE
The action takes place in Cyprus, at the end of the fifteenth century. Outside the castle, with the sea-walls and sea in the background. An inn with a pergola. It is evening. A thunderstorm is raging.
· CYPRIOTS A sail! A sail! A standard! A standard!
MONTANO ’Tis the winged Lion of St. Mark!
CASSIO Now the lightning flash reveals it.
CYPRIOTS A fanfare! A fanfare! The cannon has roared.
CASSIO It is the General’s ship.
MONTANO Now she is engulfed, anon is tossed skywards.
CASSIO Her prow rises from the waves.
SOME CYPRIOTS
· Veiled by mist and water, the lightning flash reveals her.
ALL Flashes! Crashes! Whirlpools! Howling winds and thunder’s mighty roar! Air and water shake together, shaken is the ocean-floor! (A large group of Cypriot women enters from the back.) Black-browed and blind, a spirit wild of chaos cleaves the air.
WOMEN (shrieking) Ah!
ALL God shakes the sullen sky about like sable drapery. WOMEN Ah!
ALL
· All is smoke! All is fire! The dense and dreadful fog bursts into flame, and then subsides in greater gloom. Convulsed the cosmos, glacial surges the spectre-like north-wind, and titanic trumpet-calls sound fanfares in the sky! (turning towards the quay with gestures of fear and supplication) God, the splendour of the tempest! God, the sandbank’s luring smile! Save the treasure and the standard of the Venetian enterprise! Thou, who guidest stars and fortunes, Thou, who rulest earth and sky, grant that in a tranquil ocean may the trusty anchor lie.
IAGO The mainmast’s broken off!
· RODERIGO Her prow is dashing on that rock!
ONLOOKERS O help! O help!
IAGO (to Roderigo) May the ocean’s seething belly be his tomb!
ONLOOKERS Safe! He’s safe!
SAILORS (from on board the ship) Lower the tenders! All hands to the ropes! Steady! Pull on the oars! To shore! (distant thunder) To the quayside! To the landing!
· ONLOOKERS Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! (Othello enters, ascending the steps from the shore tothe ramparts followed by a number of soldiers and sailors.)
OTHELLO Rejoice! The Muslim pride is buried in the deep. Ours and heaven’s is the glory. After our arms the storm has conquered it.
ONLOOKERS Hurrah for Othello! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Victory! Victory! (Othello enters the castle followed by Cassio, Montano and the soldiers.) Victory! Victory! Destruction! Destruction! Dispersed, destroyed, engulfed they plummetted into the raging deep! Victory! Victory! Victory! Victory! Destruction! Destruction! etc. Their requiem shall be the sharp scourge of the spray, the swirl of the whirlwind, the scend of the sea. Victory! Victory! Dispersed, destroyed, etc. Hurrah! (Distant thunder. The storm is passing away.) Spent is the tempest’s fury.
IAGO (aside to Roderigo) Well, Roderigo, what think you?
RODERIGO Of drowning myself.
IAGO Only an idiot drowns himself for love of a woman. (While the ship is being unloaded and weapons and baggage are being carried from her into the castle, some citizens emerge from behind the fortress carrying branches to make a bonfire which, by the light of torches held by the soldiers, they construct to one side of the ramparts. The crowd gathers around, excited and curious.)
RODERIGO How to win I know not.
IAGO Come, keep your wits about you, await the ministry of time;
the beautiful Desdemona, who in your secret dreams you so adore, will soon begin to abhor the murky kisses of that thick-lipped savage. Good Roderigo, your friend sincere I have professed myself, and I could never do more for you than in your present need. If the frail vow of a woman be not too hard a knot for my wits and all the tribe of hell to untie, I promise that the woman shall be yours. Listen, though I make show of loving him, I hate the Moor. (Cassio enters and joins a group of soldiers.) Here comes one reason for my hatred, look. (pointing to Cassio) That curled captain usurps my place, the place that I by a hundred well-fought battles have richly earned; such was Othello’s will, and I remain his Moorish Lordship’s ancient! (Puffs of smoke begin to rise from the wood with increasing density.) But just as sure as you are Roderigo, so sure it is, that if I were the Moor I should not want an Iago about me. If you heed my counsel... (Still talking, Iago leads Roderigo further away. Flames begin to leap up from the fire, and the Cypriots gather round it, singing. Meanwhile, the tavern servants decorate the pergola with lanterns. Soldiers gather round the tables, drinking and talking.)
CYPRIOTS Fire of rejoicing! The jovial flame by its glow compels night to depart. It leaps and sparkles, crackles and flares, bright radiance invading the heart! Drawn by the firelight, shadowy faces flit in ever-mutating rings, now like maidens singing sweetly, now like moths with flamy wings. Palm and sycamore burn together, the bride sings with her own true love, on golden flame and happy chorus blow ardent zephyrs from above, etc. The fire of rejoicing flames but a moment! Gone in a moment are passion’s fires! Glowing, fading, throbbing, wavering, the last flicker leaps and expires. The fire of rejoicing flames but a moment! Glowing, fading, throbbing, wavering, the last flicker leaps and expires. Fire of rejoicing, etc. (The fire dies down gradually: the storm has ceased completely.) ... leaps and expires!