a life in

Transcription

a life in

2CD
476 3439
BRUCE MARTIN
a life in song
Bruce Martin, 1997
It is surely not unnatural for constant opera-goers to have their favourite singers.
Bruce Martin has been one of mine for many years.
Few singers, in my long listening experience, come to their roles as meticulously
prepared as Bruce. His is no ‘learn the words and the music and get it over with’
approach. He reads assiduously about the historical background of the characters he
performs. His attention to linguistic detail is exceptionally thorough and the result
flawless. His musicality is beyond question. What all this adds up to, needless to say,
is the best performance of the part we are likely to get.
It is an honour to have been associated with this long overdue tribute to a very
fine artist.
Martin Dickson
AM
k
Music has always been central to my life – listening at home, performing in theatres,
extemporising with friends, writing orchestral arrangements of favourite numbers or
concocting comic songs about school for my grandkids – music has provided some
wonderful experiences. The songs and arias on this compilation were recorded during
the course of my career. Most were recorded live in performance, and even the studio
recordings are largely unedited. The fluffs and mistakes are evidence of that, although
they probably wouldn’t have been all that noticeable in a theatre or concert hall. The
recordings display a realistic standard of performance; and although I’ve never been
able to achieve flawless singing (despite a lifetime of practice) the performances are
deeply felt. The excerpts represent some of the unexpected twists in a long career
that was never less than interesting. Hopefully, you’ll find something of interest
here as well.
Bruce Martin
2
AM
3
CD1
[69’06]
8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART 1756-1791
Madamina, il catalogo è questo (Catalogue Aria) from Don Giovanni
Words by Lorenzo da Ponte
Non più andrai from The Marriage of Figaro
West Australian Symphony Orchestra, David Measham conductor
Recorded in the ABC’s Perth studios, May 1981
FRANZ SCHUBERT 1797-1828
Il traditor deluso
Words by Pietro Metastasio
Il modo di prender moglie
Words: Anonymous
Michael Brimer piano
Recorded in the ABC’s Melbourne studios, 9-10 December 1982
CARL LOEWE 1796-1869
Der Erlkönig
Words by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Ron Charles piano
Live recording by South African Broadcasting Corporation, early 1970s
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen from The Magic Flute
Words by Emanuel Schikaneder
Fin ch’han dal vino (Champagne Aria) from Don Giovanni
4
5’46
3’43
9
3’19
3’58
0
!
@
£
3’33
4’19
1’19
GIUSEPPE VERDI 1813-1901
Ella giammai m’amò from Don Carlo
Words by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle
10’52
RICHARD WAGNER 1813-1883
Tatest du’s wirklich? (King Marke’s Monologue) from Tristan und Isolde
11’27
Words by Richard Wagner
Alberto Remedios tenor, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras conductor
Live ABC recording, Melbourne Concert Hall, August 1982
MODEST MUSSORGSKY 1839-1881 orch. Edison Denisov
Songs and Dances of Death
[19’49]
Original Russian words by Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov; English translation by Michael Brimer
I. Lullaby
4’52
II. Serenade
4’44
III. Trepak
4’29
IV. The Field-Marshal
5’44
West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Verbitsky conductor
Recorded live in the Perth Concert Hall, 20 November 1999
Lucrezia Borgia, 1982:
Dame Joan [Sutherland]‘s voice, it goes without saying, was the centrepiece
of the evening... The other star is without doubt the incredible Bruce Martin
who as Lucrezia’s husband the Duke seems in danger of running away with
almost every scene he appears in. The power and quality of his phenomenal
bass, the grandeur of his presence and personality, and the manner in which
he transforms the role into a believable figure, injects a much-needed shot of
high drama into the entire action. – The Australian
5
CD2
[54’33]
5
1
2
3
4
FREDERICK LOEWE 1901-1988 arr. Bruce Martin
They Call the Wind Maria from Paint Your Wagon
Words by Alan Jay Lerner
Recorded live in the Perth Concert Hall, 1977
MITCH LEIGH b.1928 arr. Michael Brimer
The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha
Words by Joe Darion
Pro Arte Orchestra, Edgar Cree conductor
Studio recording, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1973
JACQUES REVAUX b.1940 arr. Michael Brimer
My Way
Words by Paul Anka
LUIZ BONFÁ 1922-2001 arr. Michael Brimer
A Day in the Life of a Fool
Words by Carl Sigman
Das Rheingold, 1985:
Frankfurt Opera have defied the present dearth of strong singers and found
in Bruce Martin an Australian Wotan of real strength, beauty and distinction.
– The Guardian
6
4’12
6
2’05
7
4’05
8
2’48
9
0
!
KRIS KRISTOFFERSON b.1936 arr. Michael Brimer
For the Good Times
Words by Kris Kristofferson
DON MCLEAN b.1945
And I Love You So
Words by Don McLean
RICHARD RODGERS 1902-1979 arr. Michael Brimer
You’ll Never Walk Alone from Carousel
Words by Oscar Hammerstein II
TRADITIONAL AFRICAN-AMERICAN SPIRITUAL
Deep River
Words: Anonymous
Ron Charles piano
JEROME KERN 1885-1945 arr. Bruce Martin
Ol’ Man River from Showboat
Words by Oscar Hammerstein II
Recorded live in the Perth Concert Hall, 1977
3’04
3’04
2’12
2’38
3’28
FELIX MENDELSSOHN 1809-1847
Elijah
Draw Near, All Ye People…Lord God of Abraham
4’24
Tarry Here, My Servant…It Is Enough
6’19
Texts selected from the Bible by Julius Schubring; English translation by William Bartholomew
Recorded in the ABC’s Perth studios, November 1979
7
@
£
$
%
^
&
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV 1844-1908
Song of the Viking Guest from Sadko
Original Russian words by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; English translation by Bruce Martin
MODEST MUSSORGSKY
Varlaam’s Song from Boris Godunov
Original Russian words by Modest Mussorgsky; English translation by David Lloyd-Jones
MAURICE RAVEL 1875-1937
Don Quichotte à Dulcinée
Chanson romanesque
Chanson épique
Chanson à boire
Words by Paul Morand
Michael Brimer piano
Recorded in the ABC’s Melbourne studios, 9-10 December 1982
WILFRED SANDERSON 1878-1935
Captain Mac
Words by P.J. O’Reilly
Ron Charles piano
Bruce Martin as Sarastro and
Amanda Thane as Pamina in
Opera Australia’s 1993 production
of The Magic Flute
2’39
2’01
[7’10]
2’14
3’09
1’47
3’05
Bruce Martin bass-baritone
These recordings have been sourced from a variety of original media with varying sonic quality. They have been
remastered to remove as much noise as possible without interfering with the integrity of the original sound,
and therefore some imperfections inherent in the original media will still be apparent.
8
9
Bruce Martin’s professional career in opera is as
long as it is rich and varied. Well known in his
native Australia as a singer of some of the
largest and most challenging roles for bass, he
first stepped onto the professional stage in Perth
in 1969 appearing as Mephistopheles in the
West Australian Opera production of Faust. In
the four decades since, he has explored
repertoire from Mozart to Wagner to 20thcentury and contemporary opera. Equally at
home in Italian, German, Russian, French and
English works, he is a skilled practitioner of the
serious, comic and tragic, having played lover
and lovelorn, master and servant, god and
demon, vagabond and king. Indeed, those who
have followed Martin’s operatic career may be
surprised to discover in these recordings
repertoire which reaches well beyond opera,
oratorio and art song to include musicals,
popular standards and spirituals.
sexually voracious master, nor will she be the
last, and to prove the point he reels off the list
of Don Giovanni’s amorous conquests: 640 in
Italy, 231 in Germany, 100 in France, 91 in Turkey
and 1003 in Spain. The number-crunching of the
aria’s first section gives way to a slower and
more expansive second section. Here, Leporello
points out that whether fat, thin, tall, short, rich,
poor, blond or brunette, Don Giovanni doesn’t
discriminate when it comes to choosing a lover.
That said, there is one type of woman that thrills
him above all: the young beginner. Don Giovanni
was premiered in Prague in 1787 and performed
in Vienna the following year. In Vienna, Leporello
was played by Francesco Benucci, the singer
who had created the title role in The Marriage of
Figaro in 1786. Figaro’s aria Non più andrai
brings down the curtain on the opera’s first act.
With its jovial melody and catchy refrain it
quickly became one of the opera’s best-known
numbers. Indeed, Mozart quotes it in Don
Giovanni : when an on-stage band strikes up the
tune at Don Giovanni’s supper, Leporello cheekily
comments, ‘Now that tune I know only too well!’
Diversity has been a hallmark of Martin’s career
right from the start. In 1962, at the age of 20 –
some years before making his stage debut – he
appeared in a radio broadcast singing not only
Wotan’s Farewell, from Die Walküre, but also
two arias from Mozart’s Don Giovanni. In
Madamina, il catalogo è questo (Catalogue
Aria), Don Giovanni’s manservant, Leporello,
takes a novel approach to pacifying the furious
Donna Elvira, one of Don Giovanni’s discarded
lovers. He draws to her attention the fact that
she is not the first to be cast aside by his
Franz Schubert is justly famous for his groundbreaking contribution to German accompanied
song. Less well known are his settings of Italian
poems. Il traditor deluso (The deluded traitor)
and Il modo di prender moglie (The way to get
a wife) are two of the three songs that make up
Drei Gesänge (Three Songs), D902. The first, a
setting of a poem by celebrated 18th-century
10
poet and librettist, Pietro Metastasio, is overtly
operatic in style and structure. The protagonist’s
troubled state of mind (‘Ah! I tremble! Waves of
fear engulf me!’) is established in the declamatory
opening section and intensified still further in the
aria-like passage that follows (‘Lightning flashes
around me’). If opera seria – ‘serious’ opera – is
summoned in Il traditor deluso, it is the earthy
comedy of opera buffa that is called to mind in Il
modo di prender moglie. Here the protagonist
unashamedly points out that he intends to marry
for what he considers to be the best possible
reason: money! Schubert dedicated the Drei
Gesänge to Luigi Lablache, one of the finest
basses of the age. This well-travelled singer –
whose roles included Leporello and Figaro – was
known on the great stages of Europe from
London to Vienna to St Petersburg.
ballad’s roles: narrator, father, son and Erl-King.
Tragically, when father and son arrive at their
destination, the boy is dead.
Mozart’s penultimate opera, Die Zauberflöte (The
Magic Flute), while technically a Singspiel (a
comic opera with spoken dialogue), touches
upon a number of theatrical genres.
Consequently, the work’s musical topography is
wide-ranging. Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen
(A girl or a little wife) is in a simple, folk-like style
well suited to the character who sings it – the
unsophisticated bird-catcher, Papageno.
Accompanying himself on his magic bells (i.e.
glockenspiel), Papageno explains that what he
most longs for in life is a partner to share it with
(‘a girl or a little wife’), a wish that is fulfilled
before the opera comes to a close. Don Giovanni
is also hoping to ‘get lucky’ when he sings Fin
ch’han dal vino (Champagne Aria), a brisk and
brief aria in which he orders Leporello to prepare
a great feast with plenty of wine and dancing. He
expects that by party’s end twelve more names
might be added to his catalogue of lovers.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s ballad Der
Erlkönig (The Erl-King) has been set to music by
a number of composers, Schubert’s lied
doubtless being the best known. In 1818, three
years after Schubert’s setting, it was set to
music by German composer and singer, Carl
Loewe. Goethe’s intensely dramatic poem traces
a narrative in which a mortally ill boy and his
desperate father hurtle through the night on
horseback. The distressed boy claims that the
Erl-King – a figure of death – is coming to take
him away, but the father tries to dispel such
thoughts. Interpretatively demanding, the song
requires the performer to assume all four of the
When the curtain goes up on Act III of Verdi’s
Don Carlo, Philip II, King of Spain, is alone in his
study. The monarch, for all his power and
authority, appears isolated and vulnerable. As
revealed in his great aria Ella giammai m’amò
(She never loved me), it is affairs of the heart,
not affairs of the state, that weigh most heavily
on his mind. His wife, Elisabeth, is in love with
the infante, Don Carlo – Philip’s son. It is a
11
achievements. The four poems are by his friend
and one-time flatmate, Count Arseny
Golenishchev-Kutuzov. As in Der Erlkönig, Death
in Songs and Dances of Death appears as an
embodied figure, an individual who speaks to
and of the human subjects he is about to strike
down. Despite the title, ‘Lullaby’ is not a
sentimental cradle song. On the contrary, the
refrain ‘Sleep now, my little one, sleep’ is sung
by the interloper, Death. Materialising before a
distressed mother and her feverish child, Death
softly and gently lulls the child to lifeless sleep.
In ‘Serenade’, Death appears before a dying
young woman and assumes the guise of a lover.
He announces himself as ‘a lone cavalier with a
wondrous power’. As he describes it, the
maiden’s demise is not a thing to be feared but a
moment of rapturous surrender. The scenario
offered in ‘Trepak’ is quite different. Death stalks
a drunken peasant lost in the forest on a wild
and snowy night. He entreats the peasant to
rest until morning in the soft, pure flakes of
snow. Dreaming of a golden harvest, the
peasant falls into a slumber from which he never
awakes. In the final song of the cycle, ‘The FieldMarshal’, Death drops the pretence of being a
benign and comforting figure and, instead,
stands victorious on the battlefield, picking his
way over the fallen on both sides. In war, it is
Death that is the supreme victor. Mussorgsky
wrote the Songs and Dances of Death for voice
and piano in 1875-77. Here they are performed in
Edison Denisov’s orchestrated version of 1983.
situation that does not arouse Philip to anger
but, rather, causes him to reflect upon his
loneliness and mortality. It was the character of
Philip that attracted Verdi to Schiller’s Don Carlos
in the first place and in this scene the composer
offers one of his finest and most profound
operatic monologues.
For many, Bruce Martin is known above all as a
Wagner singer, having tackled on stage and in
concert most of Wagner’s most demanding roles
for bass including Hans Sachs, Wotan, Hagen
and King Marke. King Marke’s monologue,
Tatest du’s wirklich? (Have you really?), from
Act II of Tristan und Isolde, is a lengthy
discourse on love, loyalty and honour. Tristan,
Marke’s nephew, has been caught in flagrante
delicto with Isolde, Marke’s wife. Rather than
flying into a rage, the king delivers a long and
affecting speech in which he expresses his
profound disappointment upon learning of
Tristan’s treachery. Marke’s anger is expressed
as anguish rather than fury. He speaks of his
heart being pierced and of honour itself being
devalued now that Tristan, ‘champion of all
honour’, has shown himself to be dishonourable.
Confused and saddened, Marke delivers
question after question to Tristan (‘Why this hell
for me? Why this disgrace?’), rhetorical
flourishes as well as vain searches for answers.
Mussorgsky’s song cycle Songs and Dances of
Death is widely held to be one of his greatest
12
Bruce Martin as Wotan in
Opera Australia’s 1984
production of Die Walküre
Die Walküre, 1983:
Crowning this vocal array, and bestriding the entire
performance like a colossus, was the Wotan of Bruce
Martin. This is a Wotan of rare magnificence.
– The National Times
13
Bruce Martin lived overseas for most of the
1970s. He sang at Covent Garden in 1970 and
1971, and lectured at the University of Natal in
South Africa between 1972 and 1978. It was in
South Africa that he recorded the popular hits
and show tunes that appear on the second disc
in this set.
melody, however, was borrowed from a French
song, Comme d’habitude, the rights to which
Anka allegedly obtained at no cost. My Way not
only revitalised Sinatra’s career, it quickly
established itself as a classic.
If My Way had to make the transition from French
to English in order to reach a world-wide audience,
no such process was required for A Day in the
Life of a Fool, a song that became a hit in its
original Portuguese (as Manhã de Carnaval ) thanks
to its appearance in the 1959 Brazilian film Black
Orpheus. Although never called the ‘Theme from
Black Orpheus’, it effectively became known as
such. One of the original bossa nova songs, A Day
in the Life of a Fool has a wistful and haunting
quality, attributable not just to the words, but to
the song’s minor key, somewhat irregular melodic
line and languid tempo.
Lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick
Loewe formed one of the most successful
musical collaborations of the 20th century, with
works such as Brigadoon, My Fair Lady and Gigi
to their credit. They Call the Wind Maria is one
of the enduring numbers from their 1951
musical Paint Your Wagon, a show set in
California during the 1850s Gold Rush. The song
captures the vitality and grandeur of the
outdoors while also touching upon the isolation
and solitude of frontier life. The Impossible
Dream is the signature tune from the 1965
musical Man of La Mancha, an adaptation of
Cervantes’ Don Quixote by Mitch Lee and Joe
Darion. Don Quixote’s idealistic but mad quest –
his desire to ‘fight the unbeatable foe’ and ‘right
the unrightable wrong’ – is given a certain
nobility and dignity in The Impossible Dream. A
widely performed number, it has been recorded
by artists as disparate as Cher, Diana Ross and
the Supremes, and Frank Sinatra.
And I Love You So and For the Good Times
both date from 1970. The latter, which was
written by singer-songwriter, actor and former
Rhodes scholar, Kris Kristofferson, was made
famous by country and western performer Ray
Price. It was awarded ‘Song of the Year’ in 1970
by the Academy of Country Music. Don McLean
was unknown as a songwriter and performer at
the time he released his album Tapestry. But the
album’s most popular song, And I Love You So,
quickly brought him widespread attention. Within
a few years it was recorded by a range of artists
including Perry Como (it was his last Top 40 hit)
and Elvis Presley.
Frank Sinatra is the name that springs to mind at
the mention of My Way, as indeed it should,
given that lyricist Paul Anka was attentive to
Sinatra’s voice when he penned the words. The
14
river, He just keeps rollin’ along’). The song was
written for Robeson, who first sang it in a 1928
London production of Showboat, but it was
Warfield who impressed Bruce Martin with his
performance in the 1951 film version.
Like Lerner and Loewe, songwriter Richard
Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II
formed one of the great partnerships of the
musical stage. You’ll Never Walk Alone is from
their 1945 musical Carousel. The song’s uplifting
words and noble melody resonated with
audiences at mid-century, offering comfort to
those affected by World War II. It is no surprise,
then, that You’ll Never Walk Alone has been
pressed into service on occasions when hope
and fortitude are called for. Soprano Renée
Fleming sang it at Ground Zero on the first
anniversary of 9/11. In the United Kingdom it is
known to countless soccer fans as the Liverpool
FC anthem.
Lord God of Abraham, from Part I of
Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah, occurs at a crucial
dramatic juncture in the work. The priests of the
false god Baal stand in opposition to Elijah,
prophet of Israel. A sacrifice has been prepared
and the priests call on their god to send down
fire. But their loud cries are met with silence and
inaction. Elijah, in turn, summons with dignity
and humility the ‘Lord God of Abraham, Isaac
and Israel’. ‘Show this people,’ he implores, ‘that
thou art Lord God and let their hearts be turned.’
Elijah’s prayer is answered and the divine fire
descends from heaven and consumes the
offering. The people declare their faith in the
God of Israel and the priests of Baal are taken
away to be slain. Elijah is rather more
despondent in It is Enough, a reflective episode
from Part II. Confronted by further opposition,
the prophet retreats to the wilderness and asks
that his life be taken away from him. Angry that
‘the children of Israel have broken thy covenant,’
he declares himself a failure before God.
Crestfallen and disillusioned, he intones
repeatedly, ‘It is enough.’
Deep River and Ol’ Man River are for many
people synonymous with the great AfricanAmerican bass Paul Robeson, but it was another
black American singer, William Warfield, who
inspired the young Bruce Martin. Still in high
school and ten years away from even
considering a career as a singer, Martin was
nevertheless struck by Warfield’s warmth of tone
and natural expressiveness. In Deep River, one
of the most famous of African-American
spirituals, the river in question is the Jordan,
invested with biblical and metaphorical
significance as the gateway to the Promised
Land and the afterlife. The river in Ol’ Man River
is the Mississippi, but it too is given symbolic
and mythical meaning (‘He must know
somethin’, But don’t say nothin’, That ol’ man
Although Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera Sadko is not
particularly well known outside Russia, music
15
from Scene 4, including the Song of the Viking
Guest, enjoys widespread popularity. In this
scene, three different traders – Viking, Hindu and
Venetian – sing of their respective homelands.
The Hindu trader’s aria is the famous ‘Song of
India’. The Viking presents himself as a
somewhat fearsome character, as made clear by
the song’s turbulent orchestral introduction.
Wind, storm and harshness have moulded the
Viking’s character, he explains, and all nations
tremble at the sight of the Viking banner. ‘Their
god is lord of all, the god of thunder!’ Varlaam’s
Song from Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov is an
even more tempestuous aria. Varlaam, a
vagabond monk, offers a rambunctious account
of Ivan the Terrible’s siege of Kazan. Fyodor
Stravinsky, father of Igor Stravinsky, was a
renowned interpreter of both Varlaam’s Song
and the Song of the Viking Guest.
Ravel’s last completed work. Cervantes’
monumental novel – published in two parts in
1605 and 1615 – is one of the pre-eminent
works of European literature. A sophisticated
parody of knightly romances, it has given rise to
innumerable adaptations including, as we have
seen, Man of La Mancha. The eponymous hero,
who imagines himself to be a knight errant,
believes that he fights on behalf of his noble
lady, Dulcinea. ‘Chanson romanesque’
(Romanesque song) is a love song to Dulcinea.
In ‘Chanson épique’ (Epic Song), Don Quixote
prays to Saint Michael to bless and protect both
his weapons and his noble lady. As the title
makes clear, ‘Chanson à boire’ (Drinking Song)
presents us with an unbuttoned Don Quixote. ‘I
drink to pleasure!’ he exclaims, ‘Pleasure is the
only goal that I can aim at straight when I’ve
been drinking!’ As befitting the composer of
Boléro and Rapsodie espagnole, Ravel (whose
mother was Basque) brings a dash of Spanish
flavour to Don Quichotte, with guitar-like effects,
colourful harmonies, capricious rhythms and
vocal melismas.
When impresario Serge Diaghilev introduced
Boris Godunov to audiences in Paris in 1908, the
title role was sung by Fyodor Shalyapin, one of
the great basses of the century. The three songs
that comprise Ravel’s Don Quichotte à
Dulcinée (Don Quixote to Dulcinea) – settings of
poems by Paul Morand – were written with
Shalyapin’s voice in mind. Ravel was
commissioned to write the songs for Georg
Pabst’s film of Cervantes’ Don Quixote starring
the great Russian bass. However, as it turned
out, settings by Ibert, not Ravel, were used in
the film. Composed in 1932-33, Don Quichotte is
Like Don Giovanni, Captain John MacPherson is
a man with a talent for attracting the ladies. But
whereas Don Giovanni is the hunter, sailor
Captain Mac is the prey – women, to his
consternation, find him irresistible. Unable to
fend them off, he is advised to pursue the most
effective course of action: to take a wife.
Captain Mac, by composer Wilfred Sanderson
16
and lyricist P.J. O’Reilly, was written in 1915. A
popular song from a bygone age, it is one of the
many thousands of songs written at a time
when the ‘light music’ industry centred around
the domestic piano – a time when music was
not just listened to, but played and sung by
amateurs and professionals alike.
Robert Gibson
Don Giovanni, 1981:
Bruce Martin provided a marvellously swaggering Don, a most accomplished
and likeable dissolute. His vocal characterisations revealed great flexibility,
ranging from a full strong tone, though never harsh, through a sweet
crooning designed to woo Zerlina, to a great variety of tonal colour in his
recitatives. His acting equalled his singing. – Sydney Morning Herald
Rusalka, 2007:
Bruce Martin’s commandingly sung Water Sprite is both intimidating
and caring. – The Australian
Bruce Martin as the Water Sprite has insistent potency.
– Sydney Morning Herald
Bruce Martin [has] the nuance, authority, excitement and vocal power
required. – Sunday Herald Sun
The veteran bass with a surfer’s physique is in his element. – Herald Sun
17
CD1
2
1
Leporello:
Madamina, il catalogo è questo
Delle belle che amò il padron mio;
Un catalogo egli è che ho fatt’io.
Osservate, leggete con me.
In Italia seicento e quaranta,
In Alemagna duecento e trentuna,
Cento in Francia, in Turchia novantuna;
Ma in Ispagna son già mille e tre!
V’han fra queste contadine,
Cameriere, cittadine,
V’han contesse, baronesse,
Marchesine, principesse.
E v’han donne d’ogni grado,
D’ogni forma, d’ogni età.
Nella bionda egli ha l’usanza
Di lodar la gentilezza,
Nella bruna la costanza,
Nella bianca la dolcezza.
Vuol d’inverno la grassotta,
Vuol d’estate la magrotta;
E la grande maestosa,
La piccina è ognor vezzosa.
Delle vecchie fa conquista
Pel piacer di porle in lista;
Sua passion predominante
È la giovin principiante.
Non si picca se sia ricca,
Se sia brutta, se sia bella;
Purchè porti la gonnella,
Voi sapete quel che fa.
Little lady, this is the list
of the beauties that my master has loved;
a list I compiled myself.
Look here, read with me.
In Italy six hundred and forty;
in Germany two hundred and thirty-one;
one hundred in France, in Turkey ninety-one;
but in Spain there are already a thousand and three!
Here you’ve got peasant girls,
servants, townspeople,
you’ve got countesses, baronesses,
marquesses, princesses.
And there are women of every class,
of every shape, of every age.
With the blondes he usually
praises their manners,
with the brunettes, their faithfulness,
with the white-haired ones, their sweetness.
In the winter he wants the heavy ones,
in the summer he wants the slim ones;
the big ones are majestic,
the little ones are charming.
He goes after the old ones
for the pleasure of putting them on the list;
his overriding passion
is for the young beginners.
He doesn’t care if a woman is rich,
if she’s ugly, if she’s pretty:
as long as she’s in a skirt,
you know what he does.
18
3
Figaro:
Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso,
Notte e giorno d’intorno girando,
Delle belle turbando il riposo,
Narcisetto, Adoncino d’amor!
Non più avrai questi bei pennacchini,
Quel cappello leggero e galante,
Quella chioma, quell’aria brillante,
Quel vermiglio donnesco color.
Tra guerrieri, poffar Bacco!
Gran mustacchi, stretto sacco,
Schioppo in spalla, sciabla al fianco,
Collo dritto, muso franco,
Un gran casco o un gran turbante,
Molto onor, poco contante,
Ed invece del fandango,
Una marcia per il fango,
Per montagne, per valloni,
Con le nevi e i sollioni,
Al concerto di tromboni,
Di bombarde, di cannoni,
Che le palle in tutti i tuoni
All’orecchio fan fischiar.
Cherubino, alla vittoria,
Alla gloria militar!
No more, you amorous butterfly,
will you go fluttering around night and day,
disturbing the rest of all the pretty girls,
a little Narcissus and Adonis of love.
You won’t have those fine feathers any more,
that elegant, dashing hat,
those curls, that striking air,
those girlish rosy cheeks.
You’ll be amongst soldiers, by Bacchus!
A huge moustache, a knapsack,
gun on your shoulder, sword at your side,
your neck straight, your nose exposed,
a big helmet, or a big turban,
a lot of honour, very little pay,
and instead of the fandango,
a march through the mud,
over mountains, through valleys,
in winter snow and blazing summer sun,
to the music of trumpets,
guns and cannons,
and your ears will ring
with the sound of bullets whistling past.
Cherubino, off you go to victory,
to a soldier’s glory!
Il traditor deluso
Aimè, io tremo!
Lo sente tutto inondarmi il seno di gelido sudor!
Fuggasi, ah quale? Qual’ è la via?
Chi me l’addita?
Oh Dio! che ascoltai?
Che m’avvenne?
Oh Dio! che ascoltai?
Ove son io?
The deluded traitor
Ah! I tremble!
Waves of fear engulf me!
I must flee – but where? Where can I escape?
How did I get here?
Oh God! What are these sounds?
What’s happening?
Oh God! What are these sounds?
Where am I?
19
4
Ah l’aria d’intorno lampeggia, sfavilla;
Ondeggia, vacilla l’infido terren!
Qual notte profonda
D’orror mi circonda!
Che larve funeste,
Che smanie son queste!
Che fiero spavento mi sento nel sen!
Lightning flashes around me,
the ground trembles beneath me!
In the depths of night
horrors surround me!
Gloomy shadows
fill me
with fear.
Translation: Bruce Martin
Ho detto e’l ridico,
Lo fò per li contanti,
Lo fanno tanti e tanti
Anch’io lo farò.
I’ll say it and say it again:
I’m marrying money!
Many have done it in the past
and so will I, damn it!
Der Erlkönig
Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?
Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind;
Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.
The Erl-King
Who is it riding so late through the night and the wind?
It’s a father with his child;
he has the lad safe in his arms,
he’s holding him tight and keeping him warm.
Il modo di prender moglie
Or sù, non ci pensiamo,
Coraggio e concludiamo,
Al fin, s’io prendo moglie,
Sò ben perchè lo fò.
The way to get a wife
Right! No more sitting around thinking about it,
here’s to courage and putting an end to it:
I have to find a wife.
Why?
»Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?«
»Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht?
Den Erlenkönig mit Kron und Schweif?«
»Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif.«
‘My son, why are you hiding your face in fear?’
‘Father, can’t you see the Erl-King?
The Erl-King with his crown and train?’
‘It’s just a trick of the fog, son.’
Lo fò per pagar i debiti,
La prendo per contanti,
Di dirlo, e di ripeterlo,
Difficoltà non ho.
To pay my debts of course!
To get some cash!
I’ll say it, and say it again:
it shouldn’t be too difficult to find one.
»Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir!
Gar schöne Spiele spiel ich mit dir;
Manch bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand,
Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand.«
‘Dear child, come with me!
I will play such lovely games with you;
the river banks are covered with flowers,
my mother will dress you in robes of gold.’
Fra tanti modi e tanti
Di prender moglie al mondo,
Un modo più giocondo
Del mio trovar non sò.
Of all the reasons that exist
for taking a wife,
what could be more pleasurable
than marrying to get out of debt?
»Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht,
Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht?«
»Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind:
In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind.«
‘Father, father, can’t you hear
what the Erl-King’s whispers are promising me?’
‘Hush, hush, my child:
it’s the wind whispering in the dry leaves.’
Si prende per affetto,
Si prende per rispetto,
Si prende per consiglio,
Si prende per puntiglio,
Si prende per capriccio,
È vero, si o nò?
Some marry for affection,
some for respect,
some because they’re told to,
some because they’re forced to,
and others out of sheer caprice.
Well it’s true, isn’t it?!!
»Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehn?
Meine Töchter sollen dich warten schön;
Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Reihn
Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein.«
‘Fine lad, would you like to come with me?
My daughters would delight to wait on you;
with their nightly dances, my daughters will
rock you and dance you and sing you to sleep.’
Ed io per medicina
Di tutti i mali miei
Un poco di sposina
Prendere non potrò?
So tell me:
why shouldn’t I take –
as ‘medicine’ for my ailing finances –
a spot of wealthy wife?
»Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort
Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern Ort?«
»Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh es genau:
Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau.«
‘Father, father, can’t you see
the Erl-King’s daughters over there in the darkness?’
‘My son, my son, I can see perfectly:
It’s the old grey willow trees.’
»Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt;
Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt.«
»Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt faßt er mich an!
Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan!«
‘I love you, your beautiful face enchants me;
and if you won’t come of your own will, I shall use force.’
‘Father, father, now he has taken hold of me!
The Erl-King has hurt me!’
20
Translation: Bruce Martin
5
21
6
7
Dem Vater grauset’s, er reitet geschwind,
Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind,
Erreicht den Hof mit Müh’ und Not:
In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.
In his dread, the father rides like the wind,
holding the groaning child in his arms;
driven by desperation, he reaches the gate:
the child in his arms was dead.
Papageno:
Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen
Wünscht Papageno sich;
O so ein sanftes Täubchen
Wär Seligkeit für mich.
Dann schmeckte mir Trinken und Essen;
Dann könnte’ ich mit Fürsten mich messen,
Des Lebens als Weiser mich freun,
Und wie im Elysium sein.
Ach, kann ich denn keiner von allen
Den reizenden Mädchen gefallen?
Helf’ eine mir nur aus der Not,
Sonst gräm’ ich mich wahrlich zu Tod.
Wird keiner mir Liebe gewähren,
So muß mich die Flamme verzehren;
Doch küsst mich ein weiblicher Mund,
So bin ich schon wieder gesund.
A girl or a little wife
is what Papageno wishes for himself;
Oh, such a soft little dove
would be bliss for me.
Then food and drink would taste good to me;
then I could measure myself with princes,
enjoy life as a wise man,
and feel like I’m in Elysium.
Ah, all those charming girls –
can’t I please any of them?
If only one of them would help me out of my plight,
otherwise I will worry myself to death.
If no one will grant me love,
then the flame must consume me;
but with one kiss from a womanly mouth
I will be restored to health.
Don Giovanni:
Fin ch’han dal vino calda la testa,
una gran festa fa’ preparar.
Se trovi in piazza qualche ragazza,
teco ancor quella cerca menar.
Senza alcun ordine la danza sia;
chi ’l minuetto, chi la follia,
chi l’alemana farai ballar.
Ed io frattanto dall’altro canto
con questa e quella vo’ amoreggiar.
Ah, la mia lista doman mattina
d’una decina devi aumentar.
To get their heads hot with wine,
go and prepare a big party.
If you meet a girl in the piazza,
try to bring her along with you.
Let the dances happen as they will;
a minuet, a folia,
an allemande to get them on their feet.
In the meantime I shall have my own fun
flirting with this girl and that.
Ah, my list: tomorrow morning
you shall have at least ten new names.
22
8
9
Don Carlo:
Ella giammai m’amò...!
No, quel cor chiuso è a me,
Amor per me non ha...!
Io la rivedo ancor
contemplar trista in volto
il mio crin bianco
il dì che qui di Francia venne.
No, amor per me non ha!
Ove son...?
Quei doppier presso a finir...!
L’aurora imbianca il mio veron!
Già spunta il di!
Passar veggo i miei giorni lenti!
Il sonno, o Dio!
Spari da’ miei occhi languenti!
Dormirò sol nel manto mio regal
Quando la mia giornata è giunta a sera;
Dormirò sol sotto la volta nera
Là, nell’avello dell’Escurial!
Se il serto regal a me desse il poter
Di leggere nei cor, che Dio sol può veder...!
Se dorme il prence, veglia il traditore;
Il serto perde il Re, il consorte l’onore!
She never loved me!
No, that heart is closed to me,
she has no love for me.
I can still see her
gazing with a sad face
at my white hair
the day she came here from France.
No, she has no love for me!
Where am I?
These candles about to burn down…
The dawn lightens my window…
already day is breaking!
I see my days passing slowly.
Sleep, O God,
has fled my weary eyes.
I shall sleep in my royal mantle
only when my day reaches its evening.
I shall sleep only under the black vault,
there in the tomb of the Escurial.
If only the royal crown gave me the power
to read in hearts what God alone can see!
If the prince falls asleep, the traitor is watching;
the king loses his crown, the husband his honour!
Marke:
Tatest du’s wirklich?
Wähnst du das?
Sieh ihn dort, den treuesten aller Treuen;
blick auf ihn, den freundlichsten der Freunde:
seiner Treue freister Tat
traf mein Herz mit feindlichstem Verrat!
Trog mich Tristan, sollt’ ich hoffen,
was sein Trügen mir getroffen,
sei durch Melots Rat
redlich mir bewahrt?
Have you really?
Is that what you believe?
Look at him there, the truest of the true;
look at him, the dearest of friends:
his loyalty’s freest deed
pierced my heart with the most hostile treachery!
If Tristan has betrayed me, can I hope
that what his treachery has cost me
might in honesty be restored to me
as you suggest, Melot?
23
Tristan:
Tagsgespenster! Morgenträume!
täuschend und wüst!
Entschwebt! Entweicht!
Spirits of day! Dreams of morning!
Deceitful and desolate,
fade away, dissolve into the air!
Marke:
Mir dies? Dies, Tristan, mir?
Wohin nun Treue,
da Tristan mich betrog?
Wohin nun Ehr’ und echte Art,
da aller Ehren Hort,
da Tristan sie verlor?
Die Tristan sich zum Schild erkor,
wohin ist Tugend nun entflohn,
da meinen Freund sie flieht,
da Tristan mich verriet?
Wozu die Dienste ohne Zahl,
der Ehren Ruhm, der Grösse Macht,
die Marken du gewannst;
musst’ Ehr’ und Ruhm,
Gröss’ und Macht,
musste die Dienste ohne Zahl
dir Markes Schmach bezahlen?
Dünkte zu wenig dich sein Dank,
dass, was du ihm erworben,
Ruhm und Reich,
er zu Erb’ und Eigen dir gab?
Da kinderlos einst schwand sein Weib,
so liebt’ er dich,
dass nie aufs neu
sich Marke wollt vermählen.
Da alles Volk zu Hof und Land
mit Bitt’ und Dräuen in ihn drang,
die Königin dem Lande,
die Gattin sich zu kiesen;
da selber du den Ohm beschworst,
This, to me? This, Tristan, to me?
Where is loyalty now,
when Tristan has betrayed me?
Where are honour and honesty,
now that Tristan, the champion of all honour,
has lost them?
Tristan appointed himself the emblem of virtue;
where now is virtue flown,
fleeing from my friend,
now that Tristan has betrayed me?
Why did you lavish me with your service?
why did you win for King Mark
the glory of honour, the greatness of power?
Must the honour and glory,
the greatness and the power,
the services without number
be paid for with Mark’s dishonour?
Did you value so little his gratitude,
which gave you as your own inheritance
the renown and kingdom
you had won for him?
When his wife died childless,
his love for you was so great
that Mark intended
never to wed again.
When all the people from court and country
pleaded, begged, implored him
to give the land a queen
and take himself a wife;
when you yourself swore to your uncle
24
that you would be pleased to carry out
the wishes of the court and the will of the country:
setting himself against court and country,
setting himself against even you,
with careful consideration and kindness of heart,
he declined,
until you, Tristan, threatened
to forswear court and country for ever
unless you yourself were sent
to win the king his bride,
and then he let it be so.
This wondrous woman,
won for me by your courage –
who could see her,
who could know her,
who could proudly call her his own
and not count himself blessed?
She whom I could never dare approach,
she for whom in bashful reverence
I foreswore my desires,
so splendid, so lovely, so sublime
that she cannot help but refresh my soul:
in the face of enemies and danger
you brought to me the royal bride.
Now, since by such a possession you rendered
my heart more vulnerable to pain than before,
there, where I was weakest,
soft and exposed,
did the blow fall,
leaving me no hope
of ever finding healing.
Why, wretch, did you wound me
there so cruelly,
with the weapon of agonising poison
searing and maiming my senses and my mind
so that all faith in friendship is denied me
des Hofes Wunsch, des Landes Willen
gütlich zu erfüllen;
in Wehr wider Hof und Land,
in Wehr selbst gegen dich,
mit List und Güte
weigerte er sich,
bis, Tristan, du ihm drohtest,
für immer zu meiden Hof und Land,
würdest du selber nicht entsandt,
dem König die Braut zu frein,
da liess er’s denn so sein.
Dies wundervolle Weib,
das mir dein Mut gewann,
wer durft’ es sehen,
wer es kennen,
wer mit Stolze sein es nennen,
ohne selig sich zu preisen?
Der mein Wille nie zu nahen wagte,
der mein Wunsch
ehrfurchtscheu entsagte,
die so herrlich hold erhaben
mir die Seele musste laben,
trotz Feind und Gefahr,
die fürstliche Braut brachtest du mir dar.
Nun, da durch solchen Besitz mein Herz
du fühlsamer schufst als sonst dem Schmerz,
dort wo am weichsten,
zart und offen,
würd’ ich getroffen,
nie zu hoffen,
dass je ich könnte gesunden:
warum so sehrend, Unseliger,
dort nun mich verwunden?
Dort mit der Waffe quälendem Gift,
das Sinn und Hirn mir sengend versehrt,
das mir dem Freund die Treue verwehrt,
25
mein offnes Herz erfüllt mit Verdacht,
dass ich nun heimlich in dunkler Nacht
den Freund lauschend beschleiche,
meiner Ehren Ende erreiche?
Die kein Himmel erlöst,
warum mir diese Hölle?
Die kein Elend sühnt,
warum mir diese Schmach?
Den unerforschlich tief
geheimnisvollen Grund,
wer macht der Welt ihn kund?
and my open heart is filled with suspicion,
so that now, secretly, in the dark of the night,
I steal up on a friend to eavesdrop
and find my honour ended?
No heaven can redeem it for me;
why must I endure this hell?
No misery can atone for my honour;
why must I suffer this disgrace?
Who will reveal to the world
the reason, in all its secret,
unfathomable depths?
Don Quichotte à Dulcinée
I. Chanson romanesque
Si vous me disiez que la terre
A tant tourner vous offensa,
Je lui depêcherais Pança:
Vous la verriez fixe et se taire.
Don Quixote to Dulcinea
I. Romanesque Song
If you were to tell me that the earth
offended you with all its turning,
I would send out Panza to take care of the matter:
you would see it still and silent.
Si vous me disiez que l’ennui
Vous vient du ciel trop fleuri d’astres,
Déchirant les divins cadastres,
Je faucherais d’un coup la nuit.
If you were to tell me that the sky
bored you with all its blossoming stars,
tearing asunder the divine vault,
I would sweep away the night with a single blow.
Si vous me disiez que l’espace
Ainsi vidé ne vous plaît point,
Chevalier-dieu, la lance au poing,
J’étoilerais le vent qui passe.
If you were to tell me that space,
thus emptied, was not at all to your liking,
god-like, lance in hand,
this knight would stud the passing wind with stars.
Mais si vous me disiez que mon sang
Est plus à moi qu’à vous, ma Dame,
Je blêmirais dessous le blâme
Et je mourrais, vous bénissant.
O Dulcinée.
But if you were to tell me that my blood
belonged more to me than to you, my Lady,
I would blanch at the reproach
and die, blessing you.
O Dulcinea.
%
CD2
$
26
^
II. Chanson épique
Bon Saint Michel qui me donnez loisir
De voir ma Dame et de l’entendre,
Bon Saint Michel qui me daignez choisir
Pour lui complaire et la défendre,
Bon Saint Michel, veuillez descendre
Avec Saint Georges sur l’autel
De la Madone au bleu mantel.
II. Epic Song
Good St Michael who gives me leave
to see my Lady and to hear her,
good St Michael who deigned to choose me
for her pleasure and her defence,
good St Michael, be pleased to descend
with St George to the altar
of the Madonna of the blue mantle.
D’un rayon du ciel bénissez ma lame
Et son égale en pureté
Et son égale en piété
Comme en pudeur et chasteté:
Ma Dame,
(O grands Saint Georges et Saint Michel)
L’ange qui veille sur ma veille,
Ma douce Dame si pareille
A Vous, Madone au bleu mantel!
Amen.
Bless my blade with a ray from heaven;
and bless too its equal in purety
and its equal in piety,
as also in modesty and chastity:
My Lady,
(O great St George and St Michael)
the angel who watches over my vigil,
my sweet Lady so like you,
Madonna of the blue mantle!
Amen.
III. Chanson à boire
Foin du bastard, illustre Dame,
Qui pour me perdre à vos doux yeux
Dit que l’amour et le vin vieux
Mettent en deuil mon cœur, mon âme!
III. Drinking Song
To hell with the bastard, my noble Lady,
who tries to lower me in your sweet eyes
by saying that love and aged wine
will cast my heart and soul into grief!
Je bois à la joie!
La joie est le seul but
Où je vais droit… lorsque j’ai…
Lorsque j’ai bu!
Ah! La joie! Je bois à la joie!
I drink to pleasure!
Pleasure is the only goal
that I can aim at straight… when I’ve…
when I’ve been drinking!
Ah! Pleasure! I drink to pleasure!
Foin du jaloux, brune maîtresse,
Qui geind, qui pleure et fait serment
D’être toujours ce pale amant
Qui met de l’eau dans son ivresse!
Ah! Je bois à la joie!
To hell with the jealous man, my dark-haired mistress,
who moans and weeps and swears
that he will always be that pale lover
who waters his drunkenness!
Ah! I drink to pleasure!
27
Bruce Martin as Pelsaert in Opera
Australia’s 2006 production of Batavia
Rheingold. This was the beginning of an
association that lasted nearly 30 years.
Bruce Martin
A graduate of the University of Western Australia
and a former university lecturer, Bruce Martin
began his singing career in Perth, performing
oratorio and lieder. Winning most of the major
singing competitions in Australia in 1968 gave
him the opportunity to gain experience overseas,
to help achieve his ambition of singing with
Australia’s national opera company. In 1969 he
moved to England, where he was immediately
offered work by the Royal Opera House Covent
Garden, the BBC and Scottish National Opera.
However, changes to the British laws on patrial
immigration status forced him to leave England in
1971 with his wife and two young children; the
journey back to Australia took several years, via
opera houses in Germany and the music
department of the University of Natal in Durban,
South Africa, where he lectured while performing
with the various South African Arts Councils.
Bruce Martin has performed many of the major
Verdi bass roles, including Zaccaria (Nabucco),
Padre Guardiano (The Force of Destiny ), Banquo
(Macbeth ) and Ramphis (Aida). Other roles have
included Assur (Semiramide), Sarastro (The
Magic Flute ), Alphonso (Lucrezia Borgia),
Escamillo (Carmen), Raimondo (Lucia di
Lammermoor ), Dr Bartolo (The Marriage of
Figaro ), Scarpia (Tosca ), Mephistopheles (Faust),
Jokanaan (Salome), Boris (Lady Macbeth of
Mtsensk ), the four bass roles in The Tales of
Hoffmann and the title role in Don Giovanni. He
created the role of Commander Pelsaert in the
world premiere season of Richard Mills’ Batavia
in Melbourne in 2001. His final performances for
Opera Australia were in 2007, as the powerful
figure of Vodnik in Rusalka.
But it is in the Wagnerian repertoire that Bruce
Martin is best known; his roles have included
Wotan (Das Rheingold and Die Walküre), Fasolt
(Das Rheingold), Hagen (Götterdämmerung),
He finally made his debut for The Australian
Opera (now Opera Australia) in 1979, singing
Fasolt in a concert performance of Das
Batavia, 2004:
Above all, it was the commanding figure of Bruce Martin as Pelsaert who
gave the performance its dramatic integrity. He was the rock upon which the
edifice was built, and his wonderfully clear diction made the surtitles almost
redundant. – Opera Opera
28
29
Heinrich (Lohengrin ), King Marke (Tristan und
Isolde) and Hans Sachs (The Mastersingers of
Nuremberg) – it was for his portrayal of Sachs
that Bruce Martin received the 1994 Green
Room Award for Best Male Artist.
Pelsaert, Mephistopheles and Escamillo. He has
featured in numerous concerts with the Sydney,
Melbourne, Queensland, Tasmanian and West
Australian Symphony Orchestras.
He has also appeared in the Sydney Festival as
Orestes (Elektra ) and performed with West
Australia Opera as Capulet (Roméo et Juliette ),
Sharpless (Madama Butterfly ), Oroveso (Norma ),
In 2006, Bruce Martin was made a Member of
the Order of Australia (AM) for his services to
music, and for his advocacy of Australian
performing arts companies, which has continued
in his retirement.
Executive Producers Martin Buzacott,
Robert Patterson, Cyrus Meher-Homji
Consultant Elisabeth Turner
Mastering Digital Compact Disc Mastering
Remastering Engineers Marko Srdanov-Miletic,
Sandy Shi
Editorial and Production Manager Hilary Shrubb
Publications Editor Natalie Shea
Alun and Patricia Kenwood
Peter and Avril McGrath
David and Pamela McKee
Kirsten Mander
John and Isobel Morgan
Tom and Ruth O’Dea
Dr Michael Troy
Paul Williamson
Bruce Martin as Hans Sachs in Opera
Australia’s 1993 production of
The Mastersingers of Nuremberg
Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd
ABC Classics thanks Bruce Martin, Michael Brimer,
Rebecca Ameriks (Universal Music Australia), Sam
Russell (Opera Australia), Virginia Read, Alexandra
Alewood and Katherine Kemp.
Artist Photos Branco Gaica pp9, 13 and 28, Bruce
Martin p2, Don McMurdo p31. Production photos
supplied by Opera Australia.
This CD was made possible through the kind
assistance of:
Moya Crane
Joanne Daniels
Martin and Susie Dickson
Dr Helen Ferguson
Dr Anthony Grigg
 2009 Australian Broadcasting Corporation/Universal Music
Australia Pty Limited. 훿 2009 Australian Broadcasting
Corporation/Universal Music Australia Pty Limited. Distributed
in Australia and New Zealand by Universal Music Group, under
exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights of the owner of
copyright reserved. Any copying, renting, lending, diffusion,
public performance or broadcast of this record without the
authority of the copyright owner is prohibited.
30
The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, 2003:
Opera Australia has Bruce Martin playing the shoemaker. Correction –
being the shoemaker. Martin plays Hans Sachs with the kind of stillness
and ease that wins actors Oscars. It goes without saying that he sings the
role superbly. It’s nigh on impossible to describe artists at the peak of
their craft without descending into cliché, but that’s precisely where
Martin is, at the very peak. What he is doing is fusing his craft and his art.
– The Australian Financial Review
31

a life in

Transcription

Similar documents

Wege der Liebe - Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe

Tristan libretto

Schubert: The Complete Lieder

Alex Simon, baritone, 4/17/16

text of arias - David Mimran

Senior Recital: Eliodoro Castillo, bass-baritone

Tristano e Isotta - Teatro La Fenice