2 Madrigal Comedies 400 Years Apart!

BargeMusic

Presents

T he Western Wind

Bar La Barca

2 Madrigal Comedies 400 Years Apart!

Barca di Venetia per Padova (1605)

by Adriano Banchieri (1568-1634)

Jukebox in the Tavern of Love (2008)

Music by Eric Salzman

Libretto by Valeria Vasilevski

Barge Music

Fulton Ferry Landing near the BrooklynBridge

July 8 & 10, 2009, 8 PM



Barge Music

presents

Bar LaBarca

2 Madrigal Comedies 400 Years Apart

The Western Wind

Laura Christian, Michele Kennedy, sopranos

William Zukof, countertenor

Todd Frizzell, Richard Slade, tenors

Elliot Z. Levine, baritone, guitar

Stage Direction: Valeria Vasilevski

Costume Styling and Design, Props: Hollie Nadel

Stage Presence and Stage Manager:: Pedro J. Rosado, Jr.



The Western Wind Vocal Ensemble

(212) 873-2848 or (800) 788-2187 e-mail:

Publicity: Cohn Dutcher Associates

Special thanks to: the New YorkState Music Fund, the Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund and the National Endowment for the Arts for their support for the commissioning and presentation of

Jukebox in the Tavern of Love. Bar La Barca presentation made possible with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts American Masters: Chamber Music program and the New YorkState Council on the Arts.

Valeria Vasilevski wishes to thank Coleman Barks whose extraordinary

translations of Jelaluddin Rumi inspired her life and this work

The Western Wind Discography
Recital

O Western Wind, an (almost ) A Cappella Songbook (Western Wind Records, WW2002)

Contemporary

The Man in the Moon -The Western Wind sing music of Robert Dennis (Western Wind Records, WW2003)

Blessings and Batéy (Western Wind Records, WW2001)

Birth of the WarGod (Laurel, CD LR-840)

Koyaanisqatsi (Nonesuch Records)

Satires, Ballads and Bop (Newport Classic, NPD 85507 – Out of Print)

Jazz and Popular

My Funny Valentine (Western Wind Records, WW4004)

Judaica

Chanukkah in Story and Song (NPR 016)

The Chanukkah Story (Western Wind Records, WW1818)

The Passover Story (Western Wind Records, WW1800)

Mazal Bueno: A Portrait in Song of the Spanish Jews (Western Wind Records, WW1836)

The Birthday of The World: Music and Traditions of The High Holy Days

Part I: Rosh Hashanah, (Western Wind Records, WW1854)
Part II: Yom Kippur (Western Wind Records , WW 1872)

Taste of Eternity: A Musical Shabbat

Part I, Friday Evening Service and Table Songs (Western Wind Records, WW1890)

Taste of Eternity: A Musical Shabbat

Part II, Saturday Morning Service
(Western Wind Records, WW1899)
Release date: 7/14/2008

We Are Still Here: music of the Holocaust (a four song sampler)

Early American

I Am The Rose of Sharon: Early American Vocal Music (Western Wind Records, WW 1776)

The Happy Journey (Western Wind Records, WW1790)

Christmas

Christmas in the New World (Musical Heritage Society MHS-4077)

An Old Fashioned Christmas (Nonesuch Records)

A Christmas Celebration (Musical Heritage)
Holiday Light, Singing Angels, Silver Bells (WW 1225)

Sampler

Western Wind Encores – i thank you God by Elliot Z. Levine/ Spiderman arr. By Steve Friedman

SECONDA OTTAVA ALL’IMPROVIVISO NEL LIUTO / SECOND OTTAVA TO BE IMPROVISED ON THE LUTE
ORAZIO / ORAZIO
La vostra mammaquand’eri bambina / When you were a child your Mama
Faceva il molto ben farvi carezze. / Did very well to caress you.
Voi sete così bella, Rizzolina, / You are so lovely, Rizzolina
Che somigliate, il Sol con l’autre trezze. / That you resemble the sun with your golden tresses.
Io sempre pens’in voi sera e mattina / I think of you all the time, night and day;
Così vostre maniere m’hanno avezze. / I have become so accustomed to your manners
Ond’hò imparato far si ben l’amore / And I have learned to make love so well
Che v’hò donato l’alma, il spirto e ‘l core. / That I have given you my soul, my mind and my heart.
ALTRI / OTHERS (Imitating the Lute)
Trinc tinc tin ti ri trinc ecc. / Trinc tinc tin ti ri trinc ecc.
Trenc trenc ten ten ten trenc ecc. / Trenc trenc ten ten ten trenc ecc.
Tron tronc tronc tronc tronc tronc ecc. / Tron tronc tronc tronc tronc tronc ecc.
ARIA A IMITAZIONE DEL RADESCA ALL PIEMONTESE NEL LIUTO / AIR TO THE LUTE IN IMATATION OF RADESCA IN THE PIEMONTESE STYLE
RIZZOLINA E ORAZIO / RIZZOLINA AND ORAZIO
Voi dite esser di foco / You say that you are on fire,
E tutta ghiaccio sete / But you are all ice.
Onde mai si trovò gelido ardore? / Wherever has there been frozen fire?
Ah che mai non potete / Ah, you cannot possibly be
Foco esser voi che tutta ghiaccio sete. / On fire, you who are all ice.
ALTRI / OTHERS (Imitating the Lute)
Trinc tinc tin ti ri trinc ecc. / Trinc tinc tin ti ri trinc ecc.
Trenc trenc ten ten ten trenc ecc. / Trenc trenc ten ten ten trenc ecc.
Tron tronc tronc tronc tronc tronc ecc. / Tron tronc tronc tronc tronc tronc ecc.
BARACAROULI PROCACCIO E TUTTI AL FINE / THE BOATMASTER AND EVERYONE
BARCARUOLI PROCACCIO / THE BOATMASTER
Daspuò che semo zonti in tel portello / “Now that we have arrived at this port
Man à bezzi / Get out your money!”
Va stagando! No pì fandonie. / “Starboard, ahoy! No more nonsense!”
TUTTI / TUTTI
--O questa èun altra musica! / “O this is another kind of music!
Quanto vi vien per testa? / What is the charge per head?”
BARCARUOLI PROCACCIO / THE BOATMASTER
--Una da vinti e daspuòel beveraggio / “Twenty a piece, and then the drinks.
Con sanitae, bon zorno e bon viaggio. / Your health, good day and bon voyage!
Si paghi e poi cantiamo, passagieri: / You pay, and then let’s sing, passengers:
TUTTI / TUTTI
Vivan le capricciate del Banchieri.-- / Long live the Cappriciate of Banchieri.
La trai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai na! / La trai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai na!
SOLDATO SVALIGIATO / SWINDLER SOLDIER
SOLDATO SVALIGIATO / SWINDELR SOLDIER
Un povero Soldato / “A poor soldier
Tornato dalle guerra / Returned from the war
Và cercando pietà per ogni terra / Seeking charity throughout the land.
S’alle contrade mie farò ritorno / If I can manage to get home
Fortunato quel giorno / A happy day that will be.
E gl’amici e parenti / My friends and my family
Pur che vivo torn’io saran contenti / Will be happy that I have come back alive.
TUTTI / TUTTI
Và lavora guidon! Và lavora guidon! / “Go and work you phony!”

Thanks to Gabriella Bellorio for her assistance in preparing this translation.

Barca di Venetia per Padova
Adriano Banchieri (1568-1634)

Prologue: Blythe Spirit
Clamor of Fishmongers
The Captain of the Boat Bids Farewell to Ninetta
The Boatman to the Passengers
Florentine Bookmonger
Music Master from Lucca
Ensemble of Five Singers
Venetian and German
Madrigal of Sentiment
Madrigal of Caprice
Mattinata in Dialogue
Dialogue
Merchant of Brescia and the Jews
Madrigal in Roman Style (Style of Marenzio)
Madrigal in Neopolitan Style (Style of Spano)
First Improvised Ottava Rima to the Lute
Second Improvised Ottava Rima to the Lute
Aria in the Piedmontese Style (Style of Radesca), to the Lute
Boatmen, Fare Collector and the Entire Group\
Swindler Soldier

Intermission
Jukebox in the Tavern of Love
Music: Eric Salzman libretto: Valeria Vasilevski

Storm

Brush Chug Shuffle

The Jewish Jesuit

Not Porcelain Dolls

Toast Love

Quodlibet

All That is Left of Me

About Bar la barca



Since the early 1970’s, The Western Wind has been dedicated to the creation and performance of new music for voices. This has been a parallel track to our exploration of historical music including Medieval, Renaissance and Early American genres as well as Judaica, folk, pop and jazz arrangements.

Bar La Barca reflects all these interests. Our madrigal theater evening pairs the newly commissioned modern madrigal comedy Jukebox in the Tavern of Love byEric Salzman and Valeria Vasilevski with the Renaissance work that inspired it: Barca di Venetia per Padova from1605by Adriano Banchieri..

A remarkably versatile musician, Banchieri (1568-1634) pursued his musical activities as a composer, theorist, and organist throughout a long career as a monk in the Olivetan order. After taking holy orders in 1590, he served in churches and monasteries in cities such as Lucca, Siena, Bologna, Venice and Verona, frequently combining his religious duties with those of an organist. Banchieri’s writings about musical instruments provide us with some of the most detailed descriptions of Italian Baroque organs.

In 1605 Banchieri accepted a post as organist at the convent of St. Elena in Venice and undoubtedly traveled there by boat from Padua, the most common route at that time. Contemporary histories and diaries reveal that the ride from Venice to Padua was frequently raucous, flavored by a lively mixture of languages including north-Italian dialects. Thus, Banchieri’s own journey inspired him to compose the witty and imaginative madrigal comedy Barca di Venetia, which he published in an a cappella version in 1605. His vast knowledge of dialects—he actually published books about the Bolognese dialects—enabled him to capture the full liveliness and humor of his experience. Not surprisingly, he probably wrote not only the music, but also the text of La Barca. Our version is based on the 1623 edition which includes a basso continuo part played in this performance on guitar.

(Notes on Banchieri by Lawrence Bennett.)

“Jukebox in the Tavern of Love, is a modern madrigal comedy commissioned by the Western Wind to go with a 1605 madrigal comedy by Adriano Banchieri. It portrays six characters, strangers all, who seek refuge in a tavern in the midst of a blackout created by a huge storm and subsequent power failure. To pass the time, each of them tells a significant story about their lives and loves and reflects with compassion and humor on the nature and broad spectrum of love.” Eric Salzman.

Eric Salzman, one of the founders of the new music-theater, has been working in the field since the 1960s and is the creator or co-creator of more than two-dozen works for stage, recording and media. His work is innovative, involving new vocal techniques and pluralistic styles and forms. The True Last Words of Dutch Schultz, his previous collaboration with Valeria Vasilevski, was premiered and toured in The Netherlands and had its U.S. premiere as a staged reading at Symphony Space's Wall-to-Wall Opera last spring. Salzmanhas worked in recent years in France,

Rizzolina / Rizzolina
Pellizone mi dirai
Il bel occhio che tu hai
Il più bella non viddi mai
Nè così fatt’à rason / Pellizone, say,
What a beautiful eye you have;
I’ve never seen one more beautiful,
Nor one so well-shaped. .
TUTTI / TUTTI
Pellizon zon zon / Pellizon zon zon
APPLAUSO, MERCANTE BRESCIANO ET HEBREI / APPLAUSE. THE BRESCIAN MERCHANT AND THE JEWS
La trai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai na / La trai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai na
Sté sù a sentì ol noster Samuel / Stand up and listen to our Samuel
Che vol far sinagoga con Bethel / Who wants to hold a service with Bethel
La trai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai na / La trai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai na
Oth zorocot Ballacott Assach mustac / Oth zorocot Ballacott Assach mustac
Oga magoga hò hò hò hò / Oga magoga hò hò hò hò
Calla mallacott la baruccabà / Calla mallacott la baruccabà
La sinagoga la sinagoga / La sinagoga la sinagoga
La trai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai na / La trai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai nai na
MADRIGALE STILE DEL MARENZIO ROMANO / MADRIGAL IN THE STYLE OF MARENZIO THE ROMAN
Oggi nacqui, ben mio, per viver nostro. / Today, I was born, my beloved, to live as yours
Ecco la bella aurora / Behold the fair dawn
Che produsse colui / That produced him
Che il vostro Sol adora / Who worships your Sun.
O fortunate il mio natal se voi / O happy day of my birth,
Direte con la bocca e col desio: / With your lips filled with longing, tell me:
Oggi nacqui ben mio. / “Today I was born, my beloved.”
MADRIGALE A IMITAZIONE DEL SPANO NAPOLITANO / MADRIGAL IN IMITATION OF SPANO THE NEAPOLITAN
Con sue splendide luci / With her radiant eyes,
La mia cara Brunetta / My beloved Brunetta
Tutte serene e belle / Most serenely and beautifully
Per guiderdon de miei strani dolori / Looks at me with joy
Mirami lieta. Ah, cara vezzosetta, / As a reward for my strange sorrow.
Ecc’io le miro e ella / See, I look at her, and she,
Che sott’asconde gl’amorosi dardi / With concealed darts of love,
Mi cangia i sensi con suoi cari sguardi. / Confuses my senses with her adored looks.
pRIMA OTTAVA ALL’IMPROVVISO NEL LIUTO / FIRST OTTAVA TO BE IMPROVISED ON THE LUTE
Rizzolina / Rizzolina
Io mi ricordo quando fui bambina / I remember when I was a child
Che la mia mamma mi facea carezze / My mama caressed me
E mi dicea: bella Rizzolina, / And said to me, “Pretty Rizzolina”,
Se non par d’or quelle tue bionde trezze! / Don’t your blond tresses look like pure gold?
Con le compagne poi sera e mattina / Then with my companions from dusk to dawn
Facea l’amor con lor ch’erano avezze / I made love. Because they were experienced
Et imparai si bene a far l’amore / I learned so well how to make love
Ch’à mill’amanti il dì rubavo il core. / That I stole the hearts of a thousand lovers.
ALTRI / OTHERS (Imitating the Lute)
Trinc tinc tin ti ri trinc ecc. / Trinc tinc tin ti ri trinc ecc.
Trenc trenc ten ten ten trenc ecc. / Trenc trenc ten ten ten trenc ecc.
Tron tronc tronc tronc tronc tronc ecc. / Tron tronc tronc tronc tronc tronc ecc.
MATTINATA IN DIALOGO / DAWN SERENADE IN DIALOGUE
Rizzolina / Rizzolina
Non più, di grazia, simil Madrigali! / If you please, no more such madrigals!
Tutti / ALL
Fa la la la la la la la la la la. / Fa la la la la la la la la la la.
Rizzolina / Rizzolina
Rizzolina, son cortese. / I am Rizzolina, ever obliging
Gli Altri / THE OTHERS
La più bella del paese. / The prettiest in the land.
Rizzolina / Rizzolina
Tutto il giorno fò l’amore / I make love all day long.
Gli Altri / THE OTHERS
Poi la sera alle quatr’hore / And again at 4 p.m.
Rizzolina / Rizzolina
Il mio caro pelizzone / My dear Pellizone
Sa sonar e cantar. / Knows how to play and sing
DIALOGO / DIALOGUE
Pellizone / Pellizone
Cuor mi bello mi dirai
Bella vita che tu hai
La più bella non viddi mai
Nè così fatt’à penel / My fair heart say,
What a pretty waistyou have;
I’ve never seen a prettier one,
Nor one so perfectly made to measure.
Rizzolina / Rizzolina
Cuor mio bel bel bel / My pretty, pretty heart.
Pellizone / Pellizone
Cuor mio bel bel bel / My pretty, pretty heart.
Rizzolina / Rizzolina
Pellizone mi dirai
Il bel fianco che tu hai
Il più bella non viddi mai
Nè così fatt’à rason / Pellizone, say,
What handsome flanks you have;
I’ve never seen more handsome ones,
Nor ones so well built
Pellizone / Pellizone
Pellizon zon zon / Pellizon zon zon
Rizzolina / Rizzolina
Pellizon zon zon / Pellizon zon zon
Pellizone / Pellizone
Cuor mi bello mi dirai
Bella gola che tu hai
La più bella non viddi mai
Nè così fatt’à penel / My fair heart, say,
What a lovely neck you have:
I’ve never seen a lovelier one,
Nor one so perfectly made to measure.
Rizzolina / Rizzolina
Pellizone mi dirai
Il bel petto che tu hai
Il più bella non viddi mai
Nè così fatt’à rason / Pellizone, say,
What a fine chest you have;
I’ve never seen a finer one,
Nor one so strongly built.
Pellizone / Pellizone
Cuor mi bello mi dirai
Bella bocca che tu hai
La più bella non viddi mai
Nè così fatt’à penel / My fair heart, say,
What a lovely mouth you have:
I’ve never seen a lovelier one,
Nor one so perfectly made to measure.

The Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Norway. He is currently Artistic Director of the Center for Contemporary Opera in New York and is completing a book on The New Music Theater (with Thomas Desi) for Oxford University Press.has worked in recent years in France, Quebec, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Norway. He is currently Artistic Director of the Center for Contemporary Opera in New York and is completing a book on The New Music Theater (with Thomas Desi) for Oxford University Press.

Valeria Vasilevski’s theatrical roots date back to original work with Jerzy Grotowski (1974). She is well-known for her performance art, dance-theater, music theater and "concert theater" work. Her article on Concert Theater, “Pioneering a New Form or Putting a Dress on a Tree?” appears in the Yale Theater Review.
For twenty years she has collaborated with numerous new music composers, creating new and unusual texts and extending the relationship between text and music. With composer Eric Salzman she wrote and directed The True Last Words of Dutch Schultz for vocalist Theo Bleckmann. Dutch toured the Netherlands and was featured in Wall To Wall Opera at Symphony Space.
As lyricist she is a seven time ASCAP Awards Recipient. Other awards include the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Letters; The Cary Trust for Composers and Librettists and Meet The Composer, as well as grants from the Ford, Rockefeller and Fulbright Foundations and the Asian Cultural Council.


The Western Wind Vocal Ensemble

Since 1969, the internationally acclaimed vocal sextet, The Western Wind, has devoted itself to the special beauty and variety of a cappella music. The ensemble’s repertoire reveals the diverse background of its members: from Renaissance motets to Fifties rock’n’roll, from medieval carols to jazz standards, from complex works by avant-garde composers to the simplest folk melodies.

In Europe, the sextet appeared at the Geneva Opera in January 1999, performing two works it commissioned: Batéy by Tania León and Michel Camilo, and De Orishas by Tania León. From 1980-1985, The Western Wind recorded early and contemporary American vocal music for the West German National Radio (WDR) at Cologne, and made several triumphant tours of northern Italy, performing Italian Renaissance as well as American music. The group has appeared with the RAI Orchestra and Chorus of Rome at the Rome Opera and at Venice’s legendary opera house, La Fenice. In 1985, The Western Wind premiered Cesar Franck’s opera, Stradella, for La Fenice in an outdoor Venetian setting. At the request of the State Department (USIA), The Western Wind has also performed American and Latin American music throughout East Asia.