wagner and strauss - Amazon Web Services
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wagner and strauss - Amazon Web Services
SIR ANDREW DAVIS CONDUCTS WAGNER AND STRAUSS Wednesday 27 June at 8pm Melbourne Town Hall Friday 29 June at 8pm Sydney Opera House Concert Hall Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Sir Andrew Davis conductor Angela Denoke soprano Wagner Tannhäuser: Overture Wagner Die Walküre: ‘Du bist der Lenz’ Wagner Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod INTERVAL Strauss Der Rosenkavalier: Suite Strauss Salome: Final Scene twitter.com/melbsymphony facebook.com/melbournesymphony Download our free app from the MSO website. www.mso.com.au/msolearn © Lucas Dawson SPONSORS PRINCIPAL PARTNER MSO AMBASSADOR Geoffrey Rush GOVERNMENT PARTNERS PARTNER – MAESTRO LEVEL MSO POPS SERIES PRESENTING PARTNER PARTNERS – CONCERTMASTER LEVEL REGIONAL TOURING PARTNER PARTNERS – ASSOCIATE LEVEL MONASH SERIES PARTNER SUPPORTING PARTNERS SUPPLIERS The Crock Group Quince’s Scenicruisers Kent Moving and Storage Lindt & Sprüngli Melbourne Brass and Woodwind Nose to Tail © Dario Acosta Photography welcome It will not surprise you, who so passionately support the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, that I express my absolute delight at being back in this beautiful city conducting this magnificent orchestra. And my special pleasure conducting the MSO since being named Chief Conductor Designate is magnified hugely by the chance to work for the first time with Angela Denoke. We are very fortunate indeed to have secured the services of Ms Denoke to replace the indisposed Deborah Voigt for this program. She is an artist that I greatly admire and the timing is perfect; Ms Denoke has just completed a critically-acclaimed run of performances in the title role in Strauss’ Salome at Covent Garden and the final scene from this opera will end our program. Tonight Angela Denoke will bring to life some of the most fascinating women in the works of Wagner and Strauss. There could be no more fitting repertoire for this fabulous artist. I know you will be thrilled by this very special concert. In the next few years I look forward to conducting many more remarkable performances with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and artists of the stature of Angela Denoke. Best wishes, Sir Andrew Davis Chief Conductor Designate Melbourne Symphony Orchestra It is with great pleasure and pride that I welcome you to this historic concert. It is historic because Angela Denoke’s two performances with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra – here in Melbourne tonight and at the Sydney Opera House on Friday – are the first ever appearances of this superlative soprano here in Australia. We’re especially grateful to Ms Denoke for stepping in to this demanding program at such short notice, following Deborah Voigt’s recent cancellation. And secondly, it is an especially important event because Sir Andrew Davis, who in so many ways is already a great friend to Melbourne and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, agreed just a few days ago to become the MSO’s Chief Conductor from next January. I hope you will join me in celebrating the work of these two great international artists on this important occasion. My thanks to Sydney’s Shangri-La Hotel for their generosity in making possible our visit to the harbour city. And thank you for being with us tonight. Harold Mitchell AC Chairman Melbourne Symphony Orchestra It gives me great delight to present this outstanding program with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis, featuring one of the world’s great dramatic sopranos, Angela Denoke, who has graciously stepped in for Deborah Voigt at short notice. We wish Ms vb a speedy and full recovery, and hope that Australian audiences will have the chance to hear this exceptional artist in the near future. The Sydney Opera House is well known as the home of the Sydney Symphony, so it is with added pleasure that I am able to welcome our Melbourne compatriots into our famous House this Friday night. This concert will be the first chance for many Sydney people to experience the Orchestra conducted by its Chief Conductor Designate, Sir Andrew Davis. Clearly, the stars have aligned to bring us this magnificent program featuring some of the most glorious – and demanding – vocal music in the operatic repertoire. I trust you enjoy this evening’s performance, and I look forward to welcoming Angela Denoke, Sir Andrew Davis and the wonderful MSO to the Sydney Opera House. Jonathan Bielski Acting CEO Sydney Opera House © Lucas Dawson about the artists Sir Andrew Davis conductor Sir Andrew Davis is Chief Conductor Designate of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Sir Andrew recently extended his contract as the Music Director and Principal Conductor of Lyric Opera of Chicago through to the 2020/2021 season, having been appointed in 2000. He is also Conductor Laureate of both the Toronto Symphony and BBC Symphony orchestras, and was previously Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera. A former organ scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, he has conducted all of the world’s major orchestras as well as at leading opera houses and festivals. His tenure as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony, which he led at the Proms and on tour to Europe, the USA and Asia, was the longest since that of the Orchestra’s founder Sir Adrian Boult. His repertoire is diverse, however he is a keen proponent of works by Elgar, Tippett, Britten, Boulez, Messiaen and Janáček. In addition to performances in Toronto and Chicago, this season’s operatic engagements have included the Metropolitan Opera (Don Giovanni), Santa Fe Opera (Arabella), and the Canadian Opera Company (Gianni Schicchi, A Florentine Tragedy). Symphonic engagements have included the Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic and the opening of the Edinburgh Festival. The most recent additions to his award-winning discography include Holst’s The Planets, Beni Mora and Japanese Suite; York Bowen’s Symphonies Nos 1 and 2 (BBC Philharmonic); and Delius’ Appalachia, The Song of the High Hills and Violin and Cello Concertos with Tasmin Little and Paul Watkins (BBCSO). He was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1992, and a Knight Bachelor in 1999. He is also a recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society/ Charles Heidsieck Music Award. GRIEG Concerto Join the MSO’s Chief Conductor Designate, Sir Andrew Davis, in the newly renovated Hamer Hall, for this concert featuring one of the world’s favourite piano concertos. Thursday 30 August at 8pm Friday 31 August at 8pm Saturday 1 September at 8pm Melbourne Town Hall Tickets FROM $60 BOOK NOW at mso.com.au or call 1300 723 038 © Dario Acosta Photography © Johan Persson about the artists Angela Denoke soprano German-born Angela Denoke studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg before joining the ensemble of the Theater Ulm and the Stuttgart State Opera. She is closely associated with the Vienna State Opera, Paris Opera, and the Berlin and Bavarian State Operas, where her performances have included Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Arabella, Salome, Die tote Stadt, Parsifal, Jenuºfa, Der Rosenkavalier, Lohengrin, Tannhäuser, The Queen of Spades, Katya Kabanova, Wozzeck, Erwartung and Fidelio. She has also performed at the Royal Opera House, Metropolitan Opera, Netherlands Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Teatro Real Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, and the Théâtre du Châtelet. Eve Lehár Gala from Dresden, Die tote Stadt, Die Walküre, Katya Kabanova, Cardillac, Fidelio, Wozzeck and Beethoven’s Symphony No.9. Her jazz and chanson program From Babelsberg to Beverly Hills, devoted to the era of Marlene Dietrich and Zarah Leander, tours to the Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau and to the opera houses of Munich, Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona, Oviedo, Frankfurt, Paris and Milan. Her Kurt Weill recital Two Lives to Live premiered at the 2011 Salzburg Festival and will be presented at the Vienna State Opera in 2013. She has received the Singer of the Year award from Opernwelt magazine (1999), Der Faust German Theatre Award for her portrayal of Salome (2007), and was appointed Kammersängerin of the Vienna State Opera in 2009. She has performed at the Salzburg Festival and with such orchestras as the London Symphony and Berlin Philharmonic, under conductors including Harding, Gergiev and Rattle. Her recordings include The Makropulos Case from the Salzburg Festival (2011), Salome, a New Year’s CONCERT INFORMATION This concert has a duration of approximately two hours, including an interval of 20 minutes. The performance on Wednesday 27 June is performed in the presence of the Honourable Alex Chernov AC QC, Governor of Victoria and Mrs Elizabeth Chernov. Wednesday evening’s performance will be broadcast around Australia on ABC Classic FM (on analogue and digital radio), and streamed on the network’s website, at 8pm on Saturday 30 June. Please turn off your mobile phone and all other electronic devices before the performance commences. If you do not need your printed program after the concert, we encourage you to return it to the program stands located in the foyer. Melbourne Symphony Orchestra programs can be read on-line or downloaded up to a week before each concert, from www.mso.com.au. About the Music Notes on the program by Gordon Kalton Williams lovedeaths A Song of Love and Death – that’s how Peter Conrad sums up opera in his 1987 book of that name. His title reminds us that opera is a ritual grounded in our most fundamental truths. Certainly songs of love and death are represented in tonight’s program. In the 19th century, German Romantics aimed to heighten the expression of emotion in the arts. Wagner, the towering genius of 19th century music (his bicentenary is next year), intensified that expression to unprecedented extremes. He chose myths for subject matter; they went deep. His operas (or music dramas, as he preferred to call them) dealt with life’s absolutes in the starkest terms. Wagner’s achievements matched his intentions. He changed not only the course of music, but influenced literature, theatre and perhaps, and less happily, philosophy as well. The next generation of composers could easily have been dwarfed by him. Wagner’s principal successors dealt with his legacy in different ways. Mahler wrote gargantuan symphonies that burst the confines of the fourmovement works normally played in the concert hall. Richard Strauss began by writing symphonic poems that matched the keen descriptiveness of dramatic works, but his acute observation of character and situation suited him ultimately for Wagner’s field, opera. Strauss’ subject matter ranged more widely than Wagner’s and in collaboration with his librettists, principally Hofmannsthal, he wrote symbolic rather than mythological dramas. But the harmonic language of both composers extended the palette of classical tonality. The accompanying orchestra in their hands became a major player in the drama. Their work required singers of greater stamina and power. You could say they provided some of our culture’s greatest ceremonials of death and love. Richard Wagner (1813–1883) Tannhäuser (Dresden version, 1845): Overture Tannhäuser dates from Wagner’s time as Second Kapellmeister in Dresden (1843–49). In his previous opera, The Flying Dutchman, Wagner had already established Redemption as one of his lifelong themes. Tannhäuser continues the idea of a woman, again a soprano, sacrificing herself for the man she loves. Tannhäuser’s plot is a conflation of several myths. Wagner based his libretto on sources ranging from Ludwig Tieck’s collection of fairytales, Phantasus, to Heinrich Heine’s essay Elementargeister. He also derived another plotline from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story Der Kampf der Sänger, about a song contest at Wartburg Castle. Love and death may be opera’s two defining poles. Tannhäuser depicts furthermore a tussle between carnality and spiritual love. The curtain rises on the minstrel Tannhäuser in the Venusberg, the legendary haunt of the goddess of love. Sated with the Venusberg’s delights, he wants to return to the everyday world. Once there, he rediscovers his former love, Elisabeth, and tries to win her back in a song contest. He is expected, however, to seek repentance for his sins and travels to Rome but is refused forgiveness by the Pope. But all is not lost. At the last, Elisabeth dies and in dying intercedes for him. News is brought of the Pope’s staff in Rome bursting into leaf, signifying Tannhäuser’s salvation. In the 1840s, when he began Tannhäuser, Wagner had not yet conceived his revolutionary theory of music drama. The version of Tannhäuser premiered in Dresden was still basically a traditional ‘number opera’ with discrete arias, ensembles, and choruses. Its overture was in a closed form and could stand alone as a musical item. Franz Liszt described this overture as ‘a poem Richard Wagner as painted by Caesar Willich (1862) upon the same subject as the opera’. In its broadly ternary structure it summarised the opera’s philosophical concerns. Clarinets, trombones, and bassoons intone the pilgrims’ chorus in a broad triple time. As Wagner said in a program note, ‘It approaches, swells to a mighty outpouring and finally passes into the distance. – Twilight:...As night falls, magic visions show themselves.’ The music launches into the fast whirling chromaticism of the Venusberg. Tannhäuser’s ‘Hymn to Venus’ is next heard, before the triumphant return of the pilgrims’ hymn, solidly indicative of virtue’s victory. Wagner revised Tannhäuser for Paris in 1861. By that time he had composed the highly chromatic and anguished Tristan und Isolde, and the ‘Paris’ version benefits from Wagner’s advanced harmonic language. It is as if he was being lured to ever more sensual depictions of love. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra first performed the Tannhäuser Overture on 14 May 1938 under conductor George Szell, and most recently in September 2004 with Oleg Caetani. about the music Wagner Die Walküre, Act I: ‘Du bist der Lenz’ (You are the Spring) In Dresden, even before Tannhäuser’s premiere, Wagner had begun collecting editions of the Nordic myths which would form the basis for his 15-hour, four-opera cycle, The Ring of the Nibelung. The premiere of The Ring at Bayreuth in 1876 was probably Wagner’s proudest accomplishment. It had taken him 26 years to write (1848–1874). The Ring adds ‘power’ to opera’s love and death concerns. It begins with Alberich the dwarf stealing gold that sits at the bottom of the Rhine. But there was no motivation for Alberich’s theft in Wagner’s source myths. Wagner hit on the idea of Alberich stealing the gold because it contains the promise of power, after he has been rejected in love by the Rhinemaidens. Death and destruction are set in train when the ring forged Du bist der Lenz, nach dem ich verlangte in frostigen Winters Frist. Dich grüßte mein Herz mit heiligem Grau’n, als dein Blick zuerst mir erblühte. Fremdes nur sah ich von je, freudlos war mir das Nahe. Als hätt’ ich nie es gekannt, war, was immer mir kam. Doch dich kannt’ ich deutlich und klar: als mein Auge dich sah, warst du mein Eigen; was im Busen ich barg, was ich bin, hell wie der Tag taucht’ es mir auf, o wie tönender Schall schlug’s an mein Ohr, als in frostig öder Fremde zuerst ich den Freund ersah. from the gold is, in turn, stolen from Alberich and he curses anyone who becomes its subsequent owner. By the time of Die Walküre, the second opera in the cycle, the godking Wotan, who took the ring from Alberich, has incurred the curse, and realised that only someone untainted by his actions can free the gods. He has therefore produced humans. In Act I we find Sieglinde enduring a loveless marriage to Hunding. A stranger, Siegmund, seeks shelter from a storm in their hut. Siegmund and Sieglinde sense a kindredness but Hunding smells an enemy. After Hunding has challenged Siegmund to a duel and Sieglinde has revealed to Siegmund a sword that has lain waiting for the day he would arrive, they declare their love. Years of woe are lifted from their shoulders. Siegmund sings of the departure of winter and Sieglinde throws herself into his arms (‘You are the Spring...’). You are the spring I waited for During the cold winter’s reign. My heart welcomed you with holy dread, When I first saw your look. I only beheld strangeness coming from afar, While here there was sorrow. Whatever came was as if I’d never known it. But I clearly and distinctly knew you: When I saw you, You were my own; What I hid in my bosom, what I am, It emerged like broad daylight, Oh, like a loud sound against my ear, When in a cold and lonely strange country I first lay eyes on a friend. Their love will not last though. In this first generation of humans, Siegmund and Sieglinde are brother and sister. Wotan’s wife, Fricka, guardian of marriage vows, orders Wotan to let Siegmund die. Siegmund and Sieglinde’s ‘happily ever after’ is thwarted. But not before Wagner has composed some of the most affecting love music in opera. And not before Sieglinde has been impregnated with Siegfried who will try (in vain) to free the gods of their curse in the final operas of the cycle. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra first performed ‘Du Bist der Lenz’ from Die Walküre in October 1960 with conductor Henry Krips and tenor Kenneth Neate. The MSO gave a complete concert performance of the opera in August 1981 with Sir Charles Mackerras, and of Act I in September 2004 with Oleg Caetani, soprano Larissa Shevchenko, Glenn Winslade (Siegmund) and Bruce Martin (Hunding). about the music Wagner Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod WAGNER IN 1882 Die Walküre is often considered the perfect embodiment of the operatic theories Wagner espoused in his book Oper und Drama (1851). In 1851 he had argued for a balanced relationship between words and music. 1865’s Tristan und Isolde, however, can be listened to almost purely as music. What had caused the elevation of music’s role? Wagner conceived an opera on the Tristan myth in 1854, around the time of the first complete musical draft of Die Walküre. He interrupted composition on Siegfried, the third opera of his Ring cycle, to compose the music for this work. Why the interruption? Partly, he wanted to give expression to a passion he had conceived for Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of a Zurich silk merchant. And Tristan could indeed be considered opera’s ‘greatest love story ever told’. But there were philosophical considerations as well. WAGNER IN 1868 Tristan und Isolde begins with Tristan taking the sorceress Isolde back to Cornwall to wed his uncle, King Marke. But he and Isolde fall into a world-defying love when Isolde’s servant substitutes a love potion for the poison Isolde intended for Tristan. When they are caught, Tristan flees, mortally wounded. He dies as Isolde comes to him, and she expires in expectation of joining him beyond earthly life. This all takes place with a minimum of action, dramatic incident stripped down basically to entrances and exits. Act II is essentially one long love duet. But Tristan und Isolde is not simple in philosophical or psychological terms. Another reason for Wagner’s interruption from The Ring was the influence on him of Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), whose quasi-Buddhist philosophy he needed to digest. Schopenhauer held that music allowed the individual to inhabit ‘will’ itself, rather than sit in the world buffeted by the will’s manifestations. Music was thus the principal art form, a problematic position for a composer who had argued for an equal synthesis of all the arts. In a sense, composing Tristan was a method of solving this problem. Not that Wagner completely retreated from dramatic intention. Rather, he had found that music, as ‘will’, gave rise to action; action, not text, was music’s new partner. Following Schopenhauerian thought on transcendence, Wagner gained new insight into his continuing concerns with Romantic ‘love and death’. Isolde, in her ‘love-death’, finally transcends the suffering of her lover’s death and finds fulfilment in a mythical realm. In trying to convey all this, Wagner almost exhausted Western harmony’s unique ability to express longing. The Prelude begins with four notes of cello in a yearning arc which culminates in the famous ‘Tristan’ chord, a tensely knotted harmony, which unfurls to a merely less dissonant chord. This is the pattern of tension and not-quite release for the next five hours of the opera (and certainly the Prelude). In concert, the Prelude is often paired with the opera’s very end, the Liebestod, Isolde’s final monologue. This is less dissonant yet still constantly modulating, and thus unsettled. Its melody derives from Act II where Tristan sang: ‘Thus might we die, undivided…’ In Act II, the build-up culminated in an ugly interrupted cadence. Here finally there is complete release as Isolde sings of tasting Tristan’s respiration in ‘sweet perfume, in the surging swell, in the ringing sound of the world’s breath’ – a flood of sensation suggesting transcendence beyond surfeit. ‘Even if only one person pays for a seat at Tristan, it must be performed for him...’, said the composer of our second half, Richard Strauss. about the music Mild und leise wie er lächelt, wie das Auge hold er öffnet: seht, ihr, Freunde, säh’t ihr’s nicht? Immer lichter wie er leuchtet, Stern-umstrahlet hoch sie hebt seht ihr’s nicht? Wie das Herz ihm mutig schwillt, voll und hehr im Busen ihm quilt; wie den Lippen, wonnig mild, süsser Atem sanft entweht: Freunde, seht! Fühlt und seht ihr’s nicht? Höre ich nur diese Wiesse, die so wundervoll und leise, Wonne klagend, Alles sagend, mild versöhnend aus ihm tönend, in mich dringet, auf sich schwinget, hold erhallend, um mich klinget? Heller schallend, mich umwallend, sind es Wellen sanfter Lüfte? Sind es Wolken wonniger Düfte? Wie sie schwellen, mich umrauschen, soll ich atmen, soll ich lauschen? soll ich schlürfen, untertauchen, süss in Düften mich verhauchen? in dem wogenden Schwall, in dem tönenden Schall, in des Welt-Atems wehendem All – ertrinken – versinken – unbewusst – höchste Lust! Mild and gentle, he is smiling, softly opening his eyes: friends, behold him, see you not? Ever brighter, ever lighter, veiled in starlight wafted high: see you not? How the courage of his heart, strong and noble, fills his breast? Fair and tender from his lips flows his breathing in sweet bliss: look, o friends, Can’t you feel it? See you not? Is it I alone who hears them, strains so gentle and so wondrous, blissful yearning, all confessing, gently healing, from his welling, ringing out to pierce my soul with the magic of these sounds? Bright and brighter they surround me, are they waves of friendly breezes, are they perfumes gently surging? Ever rising, they embrace me, shall I breathe them, shall I listen? Shall I drink them and surrender, in the fragrance breathe my last? In the surging swell, in the harmonious sound, in the floating breath of the whole universe – to drown – and sink down – lost to the world – in supreme bliss! The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra first performed the Prelude and Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde on 28 July 1938 with conductor Joseph Post and soprano Kirsten Flagstad. The orchestra most recently performed it in September 2004 with Oleg Caetani and Larissa Shevchenko. INTERVAL the orchestra Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Sir Andrew Davis Chief Conductor DesignateTadaaki Otaka Principal Guest Conductor Benjamin Northey Patricia Riordan Associate Conductor Chair First Violins Wilma Smith Harold Mitchell AC Concertmaster Chair Roy Theaker Associate Concertmaster Michael Kisin Principal Peter Edwards Assistant Principal Kirsty Bremner MSO Friends Chair Sarah Curro Lerida Delbridge Peter Fellin Deborah Goodall Lorraine Hook Kirstin Kenny Ji Won Kim Eleanor Mancini Anne Martonyi Mark Mogilevski Michelle Ruffolo Kathryn Taylor Alice Rickards*† Second Violins Matthew Tomkins Principal Robert Macindoe Associate Principal Monica Curro Assistant Principal Mary Allison Isin Cakmakcioglu Cong Gu Andrew Hall Rachel Homburg Christine Johnson Philip Lajta David Shafir Isy Wasserman Philippa West Patrick Wong Roger Young Lynette Rayner* Rebecca Adler* Zoe Black* Susannah Ng* Gabrielle Halloran Cindy Watkin Justin Williams Caleb Wright Ceridwen Davies* Sophie Kesoglidis* Simon Oswell* Catherine Turnbull* Cellos David Berlin Principal Damien Eckersley Benjamin Hanlon Suzanne Lee Stephen Newton Esther Wright* Flutes Prudence Davis Principal Wendy Clarke Associate Principal Sarah Morse Associate Principal Nicholas Bochner Assistant Principal Miranda Brockman Rohan de Korte Sharon Draper Joan Evans Keith Johnson Angela Sargeant Michelle Wood Rachel Atkinson* Zoe Wallace* Violas Christopher Cartlidge Double Basses Principal Steve Reeves Fiona Sargeant Principal Associate Principal Andrew Moon Trevor Jones Associate Principal Assistant Principal Sylvia Hosking Katie Betts Assistant Principal Lauren Brigden Katharine Brockman Simon Collins Sarah Beggs Piccolo Andrew Macleod Principal Oboes Jeffrey Crellin Principal Vicki Philipson Associate Principal Ann Blackburn* COR ANGLAIS Michael Pisani Principal Bass Clarinet Jon Craven Principal Trumpets Geoffrey Payne Principal Tuba Tim Buzbee Principal Bassoons Andrew Barnes* Guest Principal Shane Hooton Associate Principal Timpani Christine Turpin Principal Elise Millman Associate Principal Natasha Thomas Adam Mikulicz*^ William Evans Julie Payne Tristan Rebien* Trombones Brett Kelly Principal CONTRABASSOON Kenneth Brock Imison McClimont Principal Associate Principal Horns Michael Bertoncello Andrew Bain Principal Bass Trombone Eric Klay Geoff Lierse Principal Associate Principal Saul Lewis Principal 3rd Percussion Robert Clarke Principal John Arcaro Robert Cossom Evan Pritchard* Leah Scholes* Harp Julie Raines Principal Delyth Stafford* Piano/CELESTE Leigh Harrold* Trinette McClimont Rachel Silver Jenna Breen*^ Clarinets David Thomas Elisabeth Murdoch Principal Clarinet Chair Philip Arkinstall Associate Principal Craig Hill * Guest Musician † Courtesy of BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra ^ Courtesy of West Australian Symphony Orchestra MANAGEMENT Board Harold Mitchell AC Chairman Dr Bronte Adams Peter Biggs Hon. Alan Goldberg AO QC Ann Peacock Jennifer Kanis Alastair McKean Michael Ullmer Kee Wong Company Secretary Oliver Carton Executive Wayne Box Acting Chief Executive Officer Artistic Huw Humphreys Director, Artistic Planning Julia Bryndzia Executive Assistant Andrew Pogson Assistant Artistic Administrator Business Nerolie Grant Acting Chief Financial Officer Raelene King Personnel Manager Kaanji Skandakumar Accountant Nathalia Andries Finance Officer Dale Bradbury Project Manager – Tessitura Operations Lou Oppenheim Director of Operations Angela Chilcott Assistant Orchestra Manager Joanna Krezel Marketing Manager Eileen Nesbitt CRM Coordinator Stella Barber Consultant Historian Paul Freeman Production Manager Dana Nikanpour Marketing Manager Box Office Martine O’Connor Box Office Manager Bronwyn Lobb Education Manager Luke Campbell Production Coordinator Phillip Sametz Communications Manager Paul Clutterbuck Senior Subscriptions Officer Jonathan Grieves-Smith Chorus Master Kerstin Schulenburg Artist Liaison Alison Macqueen Publicist Scott Campbell Subscriptions Officer Helena Balazs Chorus Coordinator Alastair McKean Orchestra Librarian Anna Melville Artistic Coordinator Lucy Bardoel Education Assistant Kathryn O’Brien Assistant Librarian Michael Stevens Operations Assistant HONORARY LIFE MEMBERS John Brockman OAM Marketing Michael Buckland Acting Director of Marketing Professor John Hopkins OBE Sir Elton John Simon Wilson Interactive Marketing Manager Nina Dubecki Front of House Supervisor Jennifer Poller Marketing Coordinator Development Cameron Mowat Director of Development Jessica Frean Philanthropy Manager Jennifer Tighe Sponsorship and Events Manager Arturs Ezergailis Development Officer Rosemary Shaw Development Coordinator donors The MSO’s work can be attributed to the generosity of many collaborators, individuals, trusts and foundations. We are grateful for your support, which helps us enrich people’s lives through inspiring music now and for the future. To support us with a tax-deductible private gift, or bequest, please contact Jessica Frean on 03 9626 1107 or philanthropy@mso.com.au. MSO Foundation The MSO Foundation will permanently strengthen the MSO for an inspiring future in our community. Orchestra Chair Leadership Campaign (In recognition of outstanding support) Harold Mitchell AC – Harold Mitchell AC Concertmaster Chair The Cybec Foundation – Patricia Riordan Associate Conductor Chair Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC OBE – Elisabeth Murdoch Principal Clarinet Chair MSO Friends – MSO Friends Chair Impresario Patrons (pledging $20,000+ annually) John McKay and Lois McKay, Bevelly and Harold Mitchell AC, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE, Ines Scotland Maestro Patrons (pledging $10,000+ annually) M P Chipman, Andrew and Theresa Dyer, Rachel and Hon. Alan Goldberg AO QC, Tom Jacob, Mimie MacLaren, Onbass Foundation, Elizabeth Proust AO, The Ullmer Foundation, Lyn Williams AM, Anonymous (2) Principal Patrons (pledging $5000+ annually) Kaye and David Birks, The Cuming Bequest, Mr Dominic Dirupo and Ms Natalie Dwyer, Tim and Lyn Edward, Susan Fry and Don Fry AO, Jill and Robert Grogan, Louis Hamon OAM, Hartmut and Ruth Hofmann, Peter and Jenny Hordern, Mr Greig Gailey and Dr Geraldine Lazarus, Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM, Norman and Betty Lees, Mr and Mrs D R Meagher, Wayne and Penny Morgan, Ian and Jeannie Paterson, Mrs Margaret S. Ross AM and Dr Ian C. Ross, Joy Selby Smith, Maria Sola and Malcolm Douglas, Kee Wong and Wai Tang, Anonymous (1) Associate Patrons (pledging $2500+ annually) Dr Bronte Adams, Will and Dorothy Bailey Bequest, Peter and Mary Biggs, Mrs S Bignell, Mr John Brockman OAM and Mrs Pat Brockman, David and Emma Capponi, Paul Carter, Peter and Leila Doyle, Lisa Dwyer and Dr Ian Dickson, Dr Helen M Ferguson, Robert and Jan Green, John and Agita Haddad, Susan and Gary Hearst, Gillian and Michael Hund, Peter Lovell, Jan Minchin, Marie Morton, Dr Paul Nisselle AM, Ann Peacock, Rae Rothfield, Craig and Jennifer Semple, Gai and David Taylor, Mr Tam Vu and Dr Cherilyn Tillman, Bert and Ila Vanrenen, Hon. Michael Watt QC and Cecilie Hall, Barbara and Donald Weir KSJ, Joanne Wolff, Brian and Helena Worlsfold Anonymous (2) Player Patrons (pledging $1000+ annually) Marlyn and Peter Bancroft OAM Mr Marc Besen AO and Mrs Eva Besen AO Stephen and Caroline Brain M Ward Breheny Jennifer Brukner Jill and Christopher Buckley Bill and Sandra Burdett Jan and Peter Clark Judith M Connelly Ann Darby in memory of Leslie J. Darby Panch Das and Laurel Young-Das Mary and Frederick Davidson Pat and Bruce Davis Sandra Dent John and Anne Duncan William J Forrest AM Joanna Foulkes David I Gibbs and Susie O’Neill Merwyn and Greta Goldblatt Colin Golvan SC George H Golvan QC Dr Marged Goode Jean Hadges Stuart and Sue Hamilton Tilda and Brian Haughney Julian and Gisela Heinze Hans and Petra Henkell Dr Alastair Jackson Stuart Jennings and Diana Mummë Dr Elizabeth A Lewis AM Norman Lewis in memory of Dr Phyllis Lewis Dr Anne Lierse Jeff Loewenstein Christopher and Anna Long Vivienne Hadj and Rosemary Madden Sandra and Leigh Masel Trevor and Moyra McAllister Allan and Evelyn McLaren Dr Gabriele Medley AM John and Isobel Morgan The Novy Family Laurence O’Keefe and Christopher James Lady Potter AC Peter Priest Dr Sam Ricketson Hugh T Rogers AM Tom and Elizabeth Romanowski Delina Schembri-Hardy Max and Jill Schultz David Shavin QC Chris and Jacci Simpson Gary Singer and Geoffrey A Smith Dr Robert Sloane and Denise Sloane Mr Sam Smorgon AO and Mrs Minnie Smorgon Mrs Suzy and Dr Mark Suss Margaret Tritsch Mrs Barbara Tucker P and E Turner Mary Vallentine AO Hon. Rosemary Varty Wah Yeo AM Sue Walker AM Pat and John Webb Erna Werner and Neil Werner OAM Nic and Ann Willcock Marian and Terry Wills Cooke Ruth Wisniak and Prof John Miller AO Peter and Susan Yates Mark Young Anonymous (8) MSO Conductor’s Circle We are privileged to be included in the bequest planning of our Conductor’s Circle members. Jenny Anderson Joyce Bown Kenneth Bullen Luci and Ron Chambers Sandra Dent Lyn Edward Alan Egan JP Louis Hamon OAM Tony Howe John and Joan Jones Elizabeth Proust AO Penny Rawlins Joan P Robinson Molly Stephens Pamela Swansson Dr Cherilyn Tillman Mr and Mrs R P Trebilcock Michael Ullmer Mr Tam Vu Marian and Terry Wills Cooke Mark Young Anonymous (15) The MSO gratefully acknowledges the support received from the Estates of: Gwen Hunt C P Kemp Peter Forbes MacLaren Prof Andrew McCredie Jean Tweedie Herta and Fred B Vogel MSO Projects Many projects need specific support. We sincerely thank the following for their vital support for the MSO’s Education and Emerging Artist Programs. The Pratt Family Foundation The Cybec Foundation: Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program Schapper Family Foundation Rob Cossom: Snare Drum Award The Trust Company as trustee of the Fred P. Archer Trust The RM Ansett Trust as administered by Equity Trustees To find out more about these and other special projects, such as the MSO Instrument Fund, please visit www.mso.com.au. about the music Richard Strauss (1864–1949) Der Rosenkavalier, Op.59: Suite STRAUSS AND HIS LIBRETTIST HUGO VON HOFMANNSTAHL IN 1912 The language of Tristan und Isolde foreshadowed the ultra-chromatic music of the early 20th century in pieces such as Richard Strauss’ Salome and the music of Arnold Schoenberg, who was to take chromaticism so far as ultimately to dispense with traditional tonality. Strauss might have become a revolutionary like Schoenberg, but after the harmonic excesses of Salome and Elektra, he wanted to write something ‘Mozartian’. 1911’s Der Rosenkavalier provides relief from post-Wagnerian heaviness. We are still talking about love; but consciousness of mortality, rather than death itself, explains the opera’s bitter-sweet mood. Der Rosenkavalier was the second of Strauss’ operas written in collaboration with librettist, Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The title (The Knight of the Rose) derives from a scene in the second act whereby a knighted emissary presents a silver rose to a woman on behalf of her suitor. Such a custom never existed, but Hofmannsthal specialised in such delightful mixtures of fact and fantasy. Set in Vienna in 1740, Der Rosenkavalier tells how the 17-year-old Octavian outwits the oafish Baron Ochs in his quest for the hand of Sophie, daughter of the nouveauriche Herr von Faninal. But that is not all: it is a story of the magic of love at first sight; of nostalgia, selfsacrifice and the passing of time. Octavian, the ‘Knight’, first lays eyes on Sophie during the presentation of the Rose. Strauss’ orchestra wonderfully expresses the slowmotion intoxication of the moment. Octavian must first be given up by his older lover, the Feldmarschallin, Marie-Thérèse, who has known all along that the clock is ticking on their relationship; that one day Octavian will fall for someone his A rare opportunity to see Deborah Voigt perform at the New York Metropolitan Opera Encore season: Wagner’s Complete R I NG CYCLE Plus other highlights from the recent record-breaking seasons: • Le Comte Ory • Lucia di Lammermoor • Don Giovanni June 2012 - September 2012 CINEMA NOVA 380 Lygon Street, Carlton www.cinemanova.com.au about the music own age. Her proud surrender is the background for the glorious Trio, which is the climax of the opera. Strauss’ score, though sumptuous in a very un-18th century sort of way, retains a Mozartian intention in the level of musical beauty throughout. The ‘Rosenkavalier waltzes’ are of such a quality that, by this opera alone, Richard Strauss could almost challenge his unrelated namesake for the title of ‘Waltz King’. A silent film version of Der Rosenkavalier was made in the 1920s, Strauss agreeing to a reworking of his score as accompaniment. Strauss also made his own arrangements of two waltz sequences in 1934 and 1944. Finally, in 1945, he sanctioned the making of this suite version. We may miss the voices in this orchestral version, especially the ravishing intertwinings of sopranos in the final Trio, but we still get a sense of the immense bitter-sweet wisdom of the plot and a glimpse of the opera’s charming portrayal of young love. A Daimler Brand It presents without pause some of the best-known passages of the opera, opening, as does the opera, with music played before the curtain rises, depicting the bedroom antics of Octavian and the Marschallin. Notorious are the swirling strings and the virile whooping of the horns. This segues into the ‘Presentation of the Rose’ music, and eventually to one of the loveliest touches in the score: the sugar ice harmonies played by flutes, harp, celeste and solo violins. A short transition brings us to Baron Ochs’ all-too-creamy waltz, and then to the Trio music and final folk-like Duet from the end of the opera. WE BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF TOGETHER. BY COMBINING OUR PASSION AND SKILLS WITH THAT OF OUR CLIENTS, LOTTE LEHMANN AS THE MARsCHALLIN, AT THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE, COVENT GARDEN (1938) The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s first performance of the Suite from Der Rosenkavalier took place at a Sidney Myer Free Concert on 14 February 1959 with conductor Alfred Wallenstein. The Orchestra most recently performed it in September 2010 under Mark Wigglesworth. We are the sum of many perfect parts. When we come together in perfect harmony, the results will move you in a way you’ve never been moved before. Our passion for excellence gives us the impetus to innovate. Our versatility allows us to surprise. We proudly invite you to take a seat and enjoy what we do best. We are the sum of many perfect parts. When we come together in perfect harmony, the results will move you in a way you’ve never been moved before. Our passion for excellence gives us the impetus to innovate. Our versatility allows us to surprise. We proudly invite you to take a seat and enjoy what we do best. WE CAN ACHIEVE AMAZING THINGS. KING & WOOD MALLESONS IS DELIGHTED TO BE AN ONGOING SUPPORTER OF THE MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. www.kwm.com Like attracts like. Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific, official automotive partner to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. www.mercedes-benz.com.au about the music R. Strauss Salome: Final Scene At the time of its first performance in 1905, Salome was considered the ultimate extension of Wagner’s methods. Wagner had originally sought a reform of opera in the marriage of music and words; he wrote his own librettos. For Salome Strauss used an actual play, Oscar Wilde’s French-language drama, Salomé, of 1891. But Strauss faced the same problem as Wagner with music’s primacy. ‘[Salome],’ he concluded, ‘is the symphony in the medium of drama...’ But nothing in Wagner, to borrow Jennifer Hambrick’s words, was ‘any match for Salome’s psychologically charged libretto and surprisingly dissonant score’. Strauss had seen a production of Wilde’s play in Berlin in 1902, and a poet Anton Lindner suggested that it would make a good libretto. Strauss tried out the play’s opening lines (in German translation): ‘Wie schön ist die Prinzessin Salome heute Nacht’ (How beautiful is the Princess Salome this night) and realised that he could create a libretto essentially by trimming the text. This was his third opera. Strauss had been stretching form in his symphonic poems, even to the extent of trying to render a philosophy in music (Thus Spake Zarathustra); he now took Wagner’s chromaticism and stretched it further in the quest to render the sickness of Salome’s love. Even Wagnerians had difficulty swallowing the subject matter. Siegfried Wagner said his father was ‘already turning in his grave’. The plot is Wilde’s variation of a Bible story: Salome has longed to kiss the lips of the prophet Jokanaan (John the Baptist); he has repulsed her. King Herod, who ogles Salome despite her being his step-daughter, says he’ll give her anything she wants if only she’ll reveal herself to him in a dance of the seven veils. She does so, and demands the head of Jokanaan as reward. The final scene, in which Salome finally kisses Jokanaan’s lips, is a tour de force. It unfolds in several long paragraphs, each building to a larger and larger climax as the dramatic soprano brings the opera to its repellent, if emotional, conclusion. Having feared that the executioner would resist killing the prophet, Salome exults as Jokanaan’s head is presented to her on its silver platter. There is a mighty roar in the orchestra and a horrific revision of the motif which preceded the opera’s opening reflections on Salome’s beauty. Over the top of this, Salome gloats: ‘You would not let me kiss your mouth, Jokanaan.’ The music settles down and Salome praises the closed eyes that would not look on her, the silent tongue that spat venom... She compares Jokanaan’s voice to incense... The blending of sensations is Tristanesque. Finally she concludes: ‘The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death.’ In the opera Herod now interjects. ‘She is a monster.’ We enter an evil place. ‘Ah! I have kissed your mouth Jokanaan,’ sings Salome to a chilling accompaniment. And then, as she exults, Strauss builds his music to its most radiant, lyrical and discordant height. A beam of moonlight falls on Salome. Herod sees her kissing the head. He orders that she be killed. His men crush her under their shields. about the music This last scene has been described by musicologist Michael Kennedy as a ‘perverted Liebestod’, highlighting a kinship between the works on this program. But we’ve come a long way from Elisabeth, Sieglinde and Isolde, heroines who play redeeming roles in their dramas; Salome has few redeeming features as she upbraids Jokanaan’s trunkless head for not succumbing to her beauty. In opera, sometimes love, sometimes death wins, sometimes they both win in the same crushing conjunction. In the case of some of tonight’s extracts, either may be a soprano character’s fate, sometimes both. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has performed the Final Scene from Strauss’ Salome on only one previous occasion: 16 October 1944 with conductor Bernard Heinze and soprano Marjorie Lawrence. Oscar Wilde SALOME BY AUBREY BEARDSLEY Gordon Kalton Williams © 2012 A GREAT ORCHESTRA NEEDS GREAT INSTRUMENTS The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Instrument Fund ensures the artists of the MSO have instruments equal to their superb talent. 2012 is a special year for the MSO as instrumentalists, choristers and audiences return to the refurbished Hamer Hall, and its enticing new world of acoustic splendour. Your superb woodwind section has identified three extraordinary instruments to assist them to in their quest for ever improving standards: “Music can transform the human spirit. This is an art to which I have devoted my life, and I hope you will help this special appeal for our woodwind section, in whatever way you can.” Prudence Davis, MSO Principal Flute OBOE D’AMORE – The oboe of love! This serene member of the doublereed family has been a cherished part of the orchestral sound-world from the 18th century. The current MSO instrument is beyond repair and desperately needs replacing. CONTRABASS CLARINET – Despite its increasing use in the orchestral repertoire since the mid-20th century there are very few of these instruments in Australia. The MSO does not currently own a contrabass clarinet and, given its increase in usage, it is essential that we purchase one at this time. WOODEN FLUTES – To recreate the authentic sounds of the flute in the music of such composers as Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms, the purchase of two wooden flutes will greatly enhance the sound of the MSO for these performances. CAN YOU HELP? We welcome all donations, but a donation of $100 or more will help us solve these problems in a timely manner. Donations over $2 are fully taxdeductible. Donate online at mso.com.au (click on Belong then Donate), or call 03 9626 1107, or post your donation to MSO Instrument Appeal, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra GPO Box 9994 Melbourne VIC 3001. © James Penlidis about the music SALOME WITH THE HEAD OF JOHN THE BAPTIST BY CARAVAGGIO (c. 1607) SALOME TELLS HEROD THE PRICE OF HER DANCE, FROM THE OPERA’S FIRST PRODUCTION IN DRESDEN (1905) SALOME Ah! Du wolltest mich nicht deinen Mund küssen lassen, Jochanaan! Wohl, ich werde ihn jetzt küssen! Ich will mit meinen Zähnen hineinbeissen, wie man in eine reife Frucht beissen mag. Ja, ich will ihn jetzt küssen deinen Mund, Jochanaan. Ich hab’ es gesagt. Hab’ ich’s nicht gesagt? Ah! ah! Ich will ihn jetzt küssen. Aber warum siehst du mich nicht an, Jochanaan? Deine Augen, die so schrecklich waren, so voller Wut und Verachtung, sind jetzt geschlossen. Warum sind sie geschlossen? Ah! You did not want me to kiss your mouth, Jochanaan! Well, I will kiss it now! I want to bite into it with my teeth, like someone bites into a ripe fruit. Yes, I want to kiss it now, your mouth, Jochanaan. I told you. Didn’t I tell you? Ah! Ah! I want to kiss it now. But why do you not look at me, Jochanaan? Your eyes that were so terrible, so full of anger and contempt, are closed now. Why are they closed? about the music Öffne doch die Augen! So hebe deine Lider, Jochanaan! Warum siehst du mich nicht an? Hast du Angst vor mir, Jochanaan, dass du mich nicht ansehen willst? Und deine Zunge, sie spricht kein Wort, Jochanaan, diese Scharlachnatter, die ihren Geifer gegen mich spie. Es ist seltsam, nicht? Wie kommt es, dass diese rote Natter sich nicht mehr rührt? Du sprachst böse Worte gegen mich, gegen mich, Salome, die Tochter der Herodias, Prinzessin von Judäa. Nun wohl! Ich lebe noch, aber du bist tot, und dein Kopf, dein Kopf gehört mir! Ich kann mit ihm tun, was ich will. Ich kann ihn den Hunden vorwerfen und den Vögeln der Luft. Was die Hunde übrig lassen, sollen die Vögel der Luft verzehren. Ah! Jochanaan, Jochanaan, du warst schön. Dein Leib war eine Elfenbeinsäule auf silbernen Füssen. Er war ein Garten voller Tauben in der Silberlilien Glanz. Nichts in der Welt war so weiss wie dein Leib. Nichts in der Welt war so schwarz wie dein Haar. In der ganzen Welt war nichts so rot wie dein Mund. Deine Stimme war ein Weirauchgefäss, Just open your eyes! Lift your lids, Jochanaan! Why do you not look at me? Are you afraid of me, Jochanaan, that you do not want to look at me? And your tongue, it does not say a word, Jochanaan, that scarlet adder, that spat its venom at me. It is strange, is it not? How come this red adder does not move anymore? You spoke harsh words against me, against me, Salome, daughter of Herodias, Princess of Judea. Well then! I am still alive, but you are dead, and your head, your head is mine! I can do as I please with it. I can throw it to the dogs and the birds in the sky. What the dogs don’t want, the birds in the sky can have. Ah! Jochanaan, Jochanaan, you were handsome. Your body was an ivory column on silver feet. It was a garden full of doves shining with silver lilies. Nothing in this world was as white as your body. Nothing in this world was as black as your hair. Nothing in this world was as red as your mouth. Your voice was a frankincense dish Beethoven’s Fifth and Pines of Rome A concert full of musical treasures – from Beethoven’s mighty Fifth Symphony to Respighi’s spectacular Pines of Rome. Friday 13 July at 8pm Robert Blackwood Hall Monash University, Clayton Saturday 14 July at 2pm Monday 16 July at 6:30pm Melbourne Town Hall BOOK NOW at mso.com.au or call 1300 723 038 Tickets FROM $45 A Spectacular Return TO ARTS CENTRE MELBOURNE, HAMER HALL The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra celebrates its return to the beautifully refurbished Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall in this three-program opening event, conducted by Markus Stenz. Act 1: Mahler’s Third Thursday 9 and Friday 10 August at 8pm Act 2: Beethoven and Wagner Thursday 16 and Saturday 18 August at 8pm Act 3: Mystery Program Wednesday 22 August at 8pm PREMIUM TICKETS AVAILABLE BOOK NOW at mso.com.au or call 1300 723 038 about the artists und wenn ich ansah, hörte ich geheimnisvolle Musik. Ah! Warum hast du mich nicht angesehn, Jochanaan? Du legtest über deine Augen die Binde eines, der seinen Gott schauen wollte.Wohl! Du hast deinen Gott gesehn, Jochanaan, aber mich, mich, hast du nie gesehn. Hättest du mich gesehn, du hättest mich geliebt! Ich dürste nach deiner Schönheit. Ich hungre nach deinem Leib. Nicht Wein noch Äpfel können mein Verlangen stillen. Was soll ich jetzt tun, Jochanaan? Nicht die Fluten, noch die grossen Wasser können dieses brünstige Begehren löschen. Oh! Warum sahst du mich nicht an? Hättest du mich angesehn, du hättest mich geliebt. Ich weiss es wohl, du hättest mich geliebt. Und das Geheimnis der Liebe ist grösser als das Geheimnis des Todes. and when I listened, I heard mysterious music. Ah! Why did you not look at me, Jochanaan? You covered your eyes with a cloth like someone who wanted to see his God. Well! You have seen your God, Jochanaan, but me, me, you have never seen me. Had you seen me, you would have loved me! I yearn for your beauty. I hunger for your body. Neither wine nor apples can quell my desire. What shall I do now, Jochanaan? Neither floods, nor the big seas can quench this fervent longing. Oh! Why did you not look at me? Had you looked at me, you would have loved me. I know it well, you would have loved me. And the mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death. Ah! Ich habe deinen Mund geküsst, Jochanaan. Ah! Ich habe ihn geküsst, deinen Mund, es war ein bitterer Geschmack auf deinen Lippen. Hat es nach Blut geschmeckt? Nein? Doch es schmeckte vielleicht nach Liebe. Sie sagen, dass die Liebe bitter schmecke. Allein was tut’s? Was tut’s? Ich habe deinen Mund geküsst, Jochanaan. Ich habe ihn geküsst, deinen Mund. Ah! I kissed your mouth Jochanaan. Ah! I kissed it, your mouth, there was a bitter taste on your lips. Was it the taste of blood? No? But maybe it tasted of love. One says that love has a bitter taste. But what if? What if? I kissed your mouth, Jochanaan. I kissed it, your mouth. Text: Oscar Wilde, translated Hedwig Lachmann, edited Richard Strauss. English translation © Symphony Services International Powercor – a major Powercor – a MSO’s major sponsor of the sponsor the MSO’s RegionalofTouring Program Regional Touring Program O O ng ng to Powering the to Powering the MSO through MSO through Regional Victoria Regional Victoria Powercor Australia and the Melbourne Powercor – a major sponsor of the Symphony Orchestra – 2011 Australian Powercor Australia Melbourne MSO’s Regional Touring Program Powercor – a major sponsor ofand thetheaward Business Arts Foundation winners Symphony Orchestra – 2011 Australian in recognition of their shared dedication MSO’s Regional Touring Program Business Arts Foundation award winners Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to taking the arts topresents regional Victoria in recognition of their shared dedication an all-Mozart program for moreOrchestra than 15 years. Melbourne Symphony to taking the arts topresents regional Victoria 8pm Tuesday program 5 April 7pmthan pre-concert talk an all-Mozart for more 15 years. Ballarat’s Her Majesty’s Theatre 8pm Tuesday 5 April talk what Powercor To find7pm outpre-concert more about Ballarat’s Her Majesty’s Theatre Purchase tickets on 03 5333 5888, is at Her Majesty’s Australia doing in theTheatre, community visit out more about what Powercor or at the door one hour To priorfind to the concert. www.powercor.com.au Purchase on 03 what 5333 5888, is at doing Her Majesty’s Theatre, Australia inisthe community visit To find outtickets more about Powercor Australia doing or at the door onevisit hourwww.powercor.com.au prior to the concert. in the community www.powercor.com.au To find out more about what Powercor Australia is doing in the community visit www.powercor.com.au