An interview with director Mark de Chiazza following rehearsals for the new production of "Pierrot Lunaire." In addition to the five musicians and singer/reciter, the staging will include Elyssa Dole, dancer, and eighth blackbird's percussionist Matthew Duvall, who will play the character of Pierrot. If you can, watch it in HD for higher video quality.
Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21
Music: Arnold Schoenberg
Text: Albert Giraud
eighth blackbird
Lucy Shelton, soprano
Elyssa Dole, dancer Production conceived and directed by Mark DeChiazza
In Pierrot Lunaire ("Moonstruck Pierrot") the sad, naïve, clown-like character from Commedia dell'Arte takes a darkly comic journey through a strange world. Haunted by the "death-sick," "intoxicating" moon, Pierrot is preyed upon by giant black moths, steals from blood-drenched graveyards, smokes tobacco from a skull, and is decapitated by the moon.
Written in 1912, the fevered intensity, gallows humor and touching pathos of Pierrot is drenched in the music of smoke-filled Berlin cabaret clubs and the bizarre world of the German melodrama.
This new production continues eighth blackbird's commitment to performances that blur the boundaries between music and theater. Directed by renowned New York choreographer Mark DeChiazza, it features soprano Lucy Shelton, dancer Elyssa Dole, and eighth blackbird percussionist Matthew Duvall in the title role. The musicians of eighth blackbird perform the challenging work entirely from memory, so the players can take important roles in the drama.
Director Mark DeChiazza writes: "Pierrot has no conventional narrative. Instead of telling a "story" I will use dance to highlight the sometimes dramatic, sometimes satirical nature of the relationship between text and music. Movement and gesture will connect to the human core of this amazing work, and expand - rather than circumscribe - its meaning."
Pierrot Lunaire was premiered at the Ojai Festival in June 2009, where eighth blackbird was Music Director.
As the child of two Broadway and Hollywood dancer/actors who went on to direct, choreograph, and teach, Mark DeChiazza grew up in constant exposure to theater, dance, film, and the visual arts. While still in high school, he studied two years of film production at Dartmouth College, and after graduating went on to major in Film and Video at Rhode Island School of Design. At North Carolina School of the Arts, he studied Scenic Design, and worked professionally designing and painting sets for theater. Spurred by a desire to perform, Mark trained as a modern dancer and as an actor, and has performed all over the world, working for many renowned choreographers in works of dance and dance-theater. He is currently a full-time member of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. He was, for more than a decade a core member of Macarthur Fellow Susan Marshall's company, and contributor to the company's collaborative creation of work, a creative process that has profoundly informed his work in all disciplines.
Mark has increasingly supplemented his career as a performer with other creative ventures. He has collaborated with Susan Marshall as Assistant Director on the Leonard Cohen/Philip Glass production Book of Longing, and also on the eighth blackbird and Bang on a Can work, singing in the dead of night; it was during this production that he first had the privilege of meeting and working with the group. Other past and current work includes: directing Phenomenon, a multimedia music and performance collaboration with composer Eleonor Sandresky, that will premier in 2010, through STEIM in Amsterdam; directing a group of one-act comedies at Manhattan Theater Source; directing pilot episodes 1 and 2 of the television series Selectmen, and directing the short film Speck's Last, which is currently in post-production in preparation for the festival submissions.. Theater Southwest, in Houston, performed his one-act play The Dead Salesman, and he has just completed writing his first full-length play Cut.
Lucy Shelton, soprano
A new-music diva if there ever was one," as she was described by the Boston Globe, Lucy Shelton performs with "fire, sensitivity, astounding surety of pitch" and "what seemed like love abounding." Winner of two Walter W. Naumburg Awards - as chamber musician as well as solo recitalist - soprano Lucy Shelton continues to enjoy an international career bringing her dramatic vocalism and brilliant interpretive skills to repertoire of all periods. An esteemed exponent of 20th- and 21st- Century repertory, she has premiered over 100 works, many written for her. Notable among these are song cycles by Elliott Carter, Oliver Knussen, Louis Karchin and James Yannatos; chamber works by Carter, Joseph Schwantner, Mario Davidovsky, Stephen Albert, Lewis Spratlan, Charles Wuorinen Gabriella Lena Frank, Bruce Adolphe, Alexander Goehr, Poul Ruders, Anne Le Baron and Thomas Flaherty; orchestral works by Knussen, Albert, Schwantner, David Del Tredici, Gerard Grisey, Ezra Laderman, Sally Beamish, Virko Baley and Ned Rorem; and an opera by Robert Zuidam.
An avid chamber musician, Shelton has been a guest artist with ensembles such as the Emerson, Brentano, Enso, Mendelssohn and Guarnieri string quartets, the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, 21st Century Consort, Speculum Musicae, Da Capo Chamber Players, Sospeso, New York New Music Ensemble, Boston Musica Viva, Da Camera of Houston, eighth blackbird, the Ensemble Moderne, Nash Ensemble, Klangform Wien, Schoenberg-Asko, and Ensemble Intercontemporain. Shelton has participated in numerous festivals including those of Aspen, Santa Fe, Ojai, Tanglewood, Chamber Music Northwest, BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Caen, Kuhmo, Togo and Salzburg.
Shelton has appeared with leading conductors such as Alsop, Barenboim, Boulez, De Leeuw, Dutoit, Gilbert, Knussen, Metzmacher, Nagano, Nott, Oetvos, Rattle, Rilling, Rostropovich, Salonen, Slatkin and Spano with major orchestras worldwide including Amsterdam, Boston, Chicago, Cologne, Denver, Edinburgh, Helsinki, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Minnesota, Munich, New York, Paris, St. Louis, Stockholm, Sydney and Tokyo.
Highlights of recent seasons include her Zankel Hall debut with the Met Chamber Orchestra and Maestro James Levine in Carter's A Mirror On Which To Dwell, numerous performances of Pierrot Lunaire; A Cabaret Opera in collaboration with the eighth blackbird ensemble and Blair Thomas Puppets, and participation in various composers' birthday celebrations: Elliott Carter's 100th in Turin, Italy and New York; Oliver Knussen's 50th in London; Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' 70th in Turin, Italy; James Primosch's 50th in Philadelphia; George Perle's 90th and Milton Babbitt's 90th in Princeton and New York. Recent CD releases include works by Alberto Ginastera, Anne Le Baron, Virko Baley, Louis Karchin, Chinary Ung and Charles Wuorinen. Her extensive discography is on the Deutsche Grammophon, Koch International, Naxos, Nonesuch, NMC, Bridge, Albany and Innova labels.
In the current season Shelton premieres new songs with clarinet by Elliott Carter at the New York Philharmonic, travels to Basel, Switzerland for a Carter and Babbitt concert for ISCM, performs Ginastera's String Quartet No. 3 in Vancouver and St. Paul with the Enso Quartet, premieres a new work with electronics by Tom Flaherty at Pomona College, appears with eighth blackbird in a new staged Pierrot Lunaire production at the Ojai Festival as well as concertizing with 21st Century Consort, Da Capo Chamber Players, the Chiara String Quartet and at Rice University's celebration of Olivier Messiaen. A native of California, Shelton's primary mentor was Jan De Gaetani. She has taught at the Third Street Settlement School in Manhattan, Eastman School, New England Conservatory, Cleveland Institute and the Britten-Pears School. She joined the resident artist faculty of the Tanglewood Music Center in 1996. In the fall of 2007 she joined the Manhattan School of Music's Contemporary Performance Faculty.
Elyssa Dole, dancerElyssa Dole was born in Texas and grew up in New Jersey, Iowa, and California. She received her early training at the San Francisco Ballet School and graduatedthe Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia where she studied for two years. She moved to New York to dance and to attend Barnard College, from which she graduated with honors, Phi Beta Kappa. Since then, Elyssa has been devoted to exploring, creating and supporting the performing arts as a freelance dancer and collaborator. Her recent projects include her work with Deganit Shemy and Dancers, a staged production of Pierrot lunaire with chamber music ensemble eighth blackbird, and the new multi-disciplinary work Diver, created by director Mark DeChiazza and composer Steve Mackey. She performed as "Helen" in Austin McCormick's Company XIV's The Judgement of Paris. Elyssa also dances with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet.
PIERROT LUNAIRE
Three Times Seven Poems by Albert Giraud
German Translation from the French by Otto Erich Hartleben
I. TEIL (Part I)
1. MONDESTRUNKEN (DRUNK WITH MOONLIGHT) Den Wein, den man mit Augen trinkt, The wine that one drinks with one's eyes Giesst Nachts der Mond in Wogen nieder, Is poured down in waves by the moon at night, Und eine Springflut überschwemmt And a spring tide overflows Den stillen Horizont. The silent horizon. Gelüste, schauerlich und süss, Lusts, thrilling and sweet, Durchschwimmen ohne Zahi die Fluten! Float numberless through the waters! Den Wein, den man mit Augen trinkt, The wine that one drinks with one's eyes Giesst Nachts der Mond in Wogen nieder. Is poured down in waves by the moon at night. Der Dichter, den die Andacht treibt, The poet, by his devotions driven Berauscht sich an dem heilgen Tranke, Becomes intoxicated with the sacred beverage; Gen Himmel wendet er verzückt Enraptured, he turns toward heaven Das Haupt und taumelnd saugt und schlürft er His head, and, staggering, sucks and sips Den Wein, den man mit Augen trinkt. The wine that one drinks with one's eyes.
2. COLOMBINE (COLUMBINE) Des Mondlichts bleiche Blüten, The moonlight's pale blossoms, Die weissen Wunderrosen, The white wonder-roses, Blühn in den Julinächten - Bloom in the July nights - O brach ich eine nur! Oh, if I could just pick one! Mein banges Leid zu lindern, To alleviate my anxious sorrow, Such ich am dunklen Strome I seek along the dark stream Des Mondlichts biciche Blüten, The moonlight's pale blossoms, Die weissen Wunderrosen. The white wonder-roses. Gestillt wär all mein Sehnen, All my yearning would be stilled Durft ich so marchenheimlich, If I were permitted - as secretly as in a fairy tale, So selig leis - entblattern So blissfully softly to scatter Auf deine braunen Haare Onto your brown hair the petals of Des Mondlichts bleiche Blüten! The moonlight's pale blossoms!
3. DER DANDY (THE DANDY) Mit einem phantastischen Lichtstrahl With a fantastic ray of light Erleuchtet der Mond die krystallnen Flakons The moon illuminates the crystal flasks Auf dem schwarzen, hochheiligen Waschtisch On the black, most-holy washstand Des schweigenden Dandys von Bergamo. Of the silent dandy from Bergamo. In tönender, bronzener Schale In the resounding bronze basin Lacht hell die Fontäne, metallisehen Klangs.
The fountain laughs brightly, with a metallic sound.
Mit einem phantastischen Lichtstrahl
With a fantastic ray of light
Erleuchtet der Mond die krystallnen Flakons.
The moon illuminates the crystal flasks.
Pierrot mit wäschsernem Antlitz
Pierrot with his waxen face
Steht sinnend und denkt: wie er heute sich schminkt?
Stands meditatively and thinks: how shall he make make-up today?
Fort schiebt er das Rot und des Orients Grün
He shoves aside the red, and the green of the Orient,
Und bemalt sein Gesicht in erhabenem Stil
And paints his face in a noble style
Mit einem phantastischen Mondstrahl.
With a fantastic moonbeam.
4. EINE BLASSE WASCHERIN (A PALLID WASHERWOMAN)
Elne blasse Wäscherin
A pallid washerwoman
Wäscht zur Nachtzeit bleiche Tücher;
Washes in the nighttime pale cloths,
Nackte, silberweisse Arme
Naked, silvery-white arms
Streckt sie nieder in die Flut.
She stretches down into the flowing water.
Durch die Lichtung schleichen Winde,
Winds steal through the clearing,
Leis bewegen sie den Strom.
Gently they ruffle the stream.
Elne blasse Wäscherin
A pallid washerwoman
Wäscht zur Nachtzeit bleiche Tücher;
Washes in the nighttime pale cloths.
Und die sanfre Magd des Himmels,
And the gentle maid of heaven,
Von den Zweigen zart umschmeichelt,
By the boughs gently fondled,
Breitet auf die dunklen Wiesen
Spreads out on the dark meadows
Ihre lichtgewobnen Linnen
Her linens woven of light
Elne blasse Wäscherin
A pallid washerwoman.
5. VALSE DE CHOPIN
Wie ein blasser Tropfen Bluts
As a pale drop of blood
Färbt die Lippen ciner Kranken,
Colors a sick woman's lips,
Also ruht auf diesen Tönen
Thus there rests upon these notes
Ein vemichtungssüchtger Reiz.
An annihilation-maniacal charm.
Wilder Lust Alekorde stdren
Wild pleasure chords disturb
Der Verzweiflung eisgen Traum
The icy dream of desperation
Wie ein blasser Tropfen Bluts
As a pale drop of blood
Färbt die Lippen einer Kranken.
Colors a sick woman's lips.
Heiss und jauchzend, süss und schmachtend,
Hot and exultant, sweet and languishing,
Melancholisch düstrer Walzer,
Melancholy, somber waltz,
Kommst mir nimmer aus den Sinnen!
I can't get you out of my head!
Haftest mir an den Gedanken,
You adhere to my thoughts
Wie ein blasser Tropfen Bluts!
Like a pale drop of blood!
6. MADONNA
Steig, O Mutter aller Schmerzen,
Ascend, O Mother of all sorrows,
Auf den Altar meiner Verse!
Onto the altar of my verses!
Blut aus deinen magern Brüsten
Blood from your thin breasts
Hat des Schwertes Wut vergossen.
Has been shed by the fury of the sword.
Deine ewig frisehen Wunden
Your eternally fresh wounds
Gleichen Augen, rot und offen.
Resemble eyes, red and open
Steig, O Mutter aller Schmerzen,
Ascend, O Mother of all sorrows,
Auf den Altar meiner Verse!
Onto the altar of my verses!
In den abgezehrten Händen
In your emaciated hands
Hälst du deines Sohnes Leiche,
You hold your son's corpse,
Ihn zu zeigen aller Menschheit -
To show him to all mankind -
Doch der Blick der Menschen meidet
But the gaze of men avoids
Dich, o Mutter aller Schmerzen!
You, O Mother of all sorrows!
7. DER KRANKE MOND (THE SICK MOON)
Du nächtig todeskranker Mond
You somber and deathly-ill moon
Dort auf des Himmels schwarzem Pfühl,
There on the Heaven's black cushion,
Dein Blick, so fiebernd übergross,
Your eye, so feverishly swollen,
Bannt mich, wie fremde Melodie.
Charms me, like a strange melody
An unstillbarem Liebesleid
Of insatiable love pains
Stirbst du, an Sehnsucht, teif erstickt,
You die, of longing, totally suffocated,
Du nichtig todeskranker Mond,
You somber and deathly-ill moon
Dort auf des Himmels schwarzem Pflühl.
There on the Heaven's black cushion.
Den Liebsten, der im Sinnenrausch
The lover, who in ecstasy
Gedankenlos zur Liebsten geht,
Heedlessly goes to his sweetheart,
Belustigt deiner Strahlen Spiel
Is amused by the play of your beams
Dein bleiches, qualgebornes Blut,
Your pale, torment-born blood,
Du nächtig todeskranker Mond!
You somber and deathly-ill moon.
II. TElL (Part II)
8. NACHT (NIGHT) (Passacaglia)
Finstre, schwarze Riesenfalter
Dark, black giant moths
Töteten der Sonne Glanz.
Killed the brightness of the sun.
Ein geschlossnes Zauberbuch,
Like a closed book of magic spells,
Ruht der Horizont - verschwiegen.
The horizon rests mutely
Aus dem Qualm verlorner Tiefen
Out of the vapor of lost depths
Steigt ein Duft, Erinnrung mordend!
Arises a fragrance, murdering all memory!
Finstre, schwarze Riesenfalter
Dark, black giant moths
Töteten der Sonne Glanz.
Killed the brightness of the sun.
Und vom Himmel erdenwärts
And from the sky earthwards
Senken sich mit schweren Schwingen
There descend on heavy pinions,
Unsichtbar die Ungeturne
Invisible, the monsters
Auf die Menschenherzen nieder...
Onto human hearts...
Finstre, sehwarze Riesenfalter.
Dark, black giant moths.
9. GEBET AN PIERROT (PRAYER TO PIERROT)
Pierrot! Mein Lachen
Pierrot! My laughter -
Hab ich verlernt!
I've forgotten how to laugh!
Das Bild des Glanzes
The image of brightness
Zerfloss - zerfloss!
Dissolved - dissolved!
Schwarz weht die Flagge
A black flag waves
Mir nun vom Mast.
On my mast now.
Pierrot! Mein Lachen
Pierrot! My laughter -
Hab ich verlernt!
I've forgotten how to laugh!
O gib mir wieder,
Oh, give me back -
Rossarzt der Seele
Horse doctor of the soul,
Schneemann der Lyric,
Lyric Snowman of lyricism,
Durchlaucht vom Monde,
Your Grace of the moon,
Pierrot - mein Lächen!
Pierrot - my laughter!
10. RAUB (THEFT)
Rote, fürsrliche Rubine,
Red, princely rubies,
Blutge Tropfen alten Ruhmes,
Bloody drops of antique glory,
Schlunarnern in den Totenschreinen,
Slumber in the coffins,
Drunten in den Grabgewölben.
Down in the burial vaults.
Nachts, mit seinen Zechkurnpanen,
At night, with his drinking companions,
Steigt hinab - zu rauben
Pierrot descends - to steal
Rote, ftürstliche Rubine,
Red, princely rubies,
Blutge Tropfen alten Ruhmcs.
Bloody drops of antique glory.
Doch da - straüben sich die Haare,
But there - their hair stands on end,
Bleiche Furcht bannt sie am Platze:
Pale fear nails them to the spot:
Durch die Finsternis - wie Augen! -
Through the darkness - like eyes! -
Stieren aus den Totenschreinen
There stare from the coffins
Rote, fürstliche Rubine.
Red, princely rubies.
11.ROTE MESSE (RED MASS)
Zu grausem Abendmahle,
For a hideous Communion,
Beim Blendeglanz des Goldes,
In the dazzling shine of gold,
Beim Flackerschein der Kerzen,
In the wavering light of tapers,
Naht dem Altar - Pierrot!
Pierrot approaches the altar!
Die Hand, die gottgeweihte,
His hand, consecrated to God,
Zerreisst die Priesterkleider
Rips the priestly garments
Zu grausem Abenelmahle,
For a hideous Communion
Beim Blendglanz des Goldes.
In the dazzling shine of gold.
Mit segnender Geberde
With a gesture of benediction
Zeigt er den bangen Seelen
He shows to the frightened souls
Die triefend rote Hostie:
The dripping red Host:
Sein Herz - in blutgen Fingern -
His heart - in bloody fingers
Zu grausem Abenelmahle!
For a hideous Communion!
12. GALGENLIED (GALLOWS SONG)
Die dürre Dirne
The scraggy harlot
Mit langem Halse
With a long neck
Wird seine letzte
Will be his last
Geliebte sein.
Lover.
In seinem Hirne
In his brain
Steckt wie ein Nagel
Is stuck like a nail
Die dürre Dirne
The scraggy harlot
Mit langem Halse.
With a long neck.
Schlank wie die Pinie,
Slender as a pine,
Am Hals ein zöpfchen -
On her neck a little braid -
Wollüstig wird sie
Lustfully she will
Den Schelni umhalsen,
Hug the rogue's neck,
Die dürre Dirne!
The scraggy harlot!
13. ENTHAUPTUNG (BEHEADING)
Der Mond, ein blankes Türkenschwert
The moon, a gleaming scimitar
Auf einem schwarzen Seidenkissen,
On a black silk pillow
Gespenstlsch gross - driut er hinab
Spectrally large - sends down threats
Durch schmerzensdunltle Nacht.
Through the sorrow - dark night.
Pierrot irrt ohne Rast umher
Pierrot wanders about restlessly
Und starrt empor in Todesängsten
And stares up in mortal anguish
Zum Mond, dem blanken Türkenschwert
At the moon, the gleaming scimitar
Aufeinem schwarzen Seidenkissen.
On a black silk pillow.
Es schiottern unter ihm die Knie,
His knees shake under him,
Ohnmächtig bricht er jäh zusammen.
All at once he falls into a faint.
Er wähnt: es sause strafend schon
He imagines that in punishment there already whizzes
Auf seinen Sündenhals hernieder
Down onto his sinful neck
Der Mond, das blanke Türkenschwert.
The moon, the gleaming scimitar.
14. DIE KREUZE (THE CROSSES)
Heilge Kreuze sind die Verse,
Verses are holy crosses
Dran die Dichter stunam verbluten,
Stricken blind by the fluttering
Blindgeschlagen von der Geier
On which poets silently bleed to death,
Flatterndem Gespensterschwarme!
Ghostly swarm of vultures!
In den Leibem schwelgten Schwerter,
In their bodies swords have reveled,
Prunkend in des Blutes Scharlach!
Gaudy in the blood's scarlet!
Heilge Kreuze sind die Verse,
Verses are holy crosses
Dran die Dichter stumm verbluten.
On which poets silently bleed to death.
Tot das Haupt - erstartt die Locken -
Dead the head - stiff the tresses -
Fern, verweht der Lärm des Pöbels.
Far, drifted away, the noise of the commoners.
Langsam sinkt die Sonne nieder,
Slowly the sun sets,
Eine rote Königskrone.-
A red royal crown. -
Heilge Kreuze sind die Verse!
Verses are holy crosses!
III. TElL (Part III)
15. HEIMWEH (HOMESICKNESS)
Lieblich klagend - ein krystallnes Seufzen
Sweetly lamenting - a crystalline sigh
Aus Italiens alter Pantomime,
From Italy's antique pantomime -
KIingts herüber: wie Pierrot so hölzern,
The sound comes to us: that Pierrot has become
So modern sentimental geworden.
So wooden, so fashionably sentimental.
Und es tönt durch seines Herzens Wüste,
And it sounds through his heart's wilderness,
Tönt gedämpft durch alle Sinne wieder,
Reechoes, muffed, through all his senses,
Lieblich kiagend - ein krystallnes Seufzen
Sweetly lamenting - a crystalline sigh
Aus Italiens alter Pantomime.
From Italy's old pantomime.
Da vergisst Pierrot die Trauermienen!
Then Pierrot forgets his sad expressions!
Durch den bleichen Feuerschein des Mondes,
Through the pale firelight of the moon,
Durch des Lichtmeers Fluten - schweift die Sehnsucht
Through the waves of the sea of light - longing strays
Kühn hinauf, empor zum Heimathimmel,
Boldly upward, up to its native sky,
Lieblich klagend - ein krystallnes Seufzen!
Sweetly lamenting - a crystalline sigh!
16. GEMEINHEIT (FOUL PLAY)
In den blanken Kopf Cassanders,
Into the shiny head of Cassander,
Dessen Schrein die Luft durchzetert,
Whose cries pierce the air,
Bohrt Pierrot mit Heuchlermienen,
Pierrot, with hypocritical looks,
Zärtlich - einen Schädelbohrer!
Tenderly inserts - a trephine!
Darauf stopft er mit dem Daumen
Then with his thumb he stuffs
Seinen echten turkschen Tabak
His genuine Turkish tobacco
In den blanken Kopf Cassanders,
Into the shiny head of Cassander,
Dessen Schrein die Luft durchzetert!
Whose cries pierce the air!
Dann dreht er ein Rohr von Weichsel
Then he twists a cherry-wood tube
Hinten in die glatte Glatze
Into the back of the smooth bald head,
Und behaglich schmaucht und pafft er
And he comfortably smokes and puffs
Seinen echten turkschen Tabak
His genuine Turkish tobacco
Aus dem blanken Kopf Cassanders!
Out of the shiny head of Cassander!
17. PARODIE (PARODY)
Stricknadeln, blank and blinkend,
Knitting needles, shiny and gleaming,
In ihrem grauen Haar,
In her gray hair,
Sitzt die Duenna murmelnd,
The duenna sits mumbling
Im roten Röckchen da.
There in her red skirt.
Sie wartet in der Laube,
She waits in the grove,
Sie liebt Pierrot mit Schmerzen,
She loves Pierrot painfully,
Stricknadeln, blank und blinkerd,
Knitting needles, shiny and gleaming,
In ibrem grauen Haar.
In her gray hair.
Da plötzlich - horch! - ein Wispern!
Then suddenly - listen ! - a whispering!
Ein Windhauch kichert leise:
A wind current giggles softly:
Der mond, der böse Spöfler,
The moon, the spiteful mocker,
Afft nach mit seinen Strahlen -
Imitates with its beams -
Stricknadeln, blink und blank.
Knitting needles, gleam and shine.
18. DER MONDFLECK (THE MOON SPOT)
Einen weissen Fleck des hellen Mondes
A white spot of the bright moonlight
Auf dem Riicken seines schwarzen Rockes,
On the back of his black coat,
So Pierrot im lauen Abend,
Thus Pierrot strolls on the warm evening,
Aufzusuchen Glück und Abenteuer.
Looking for good fortune and adventures.
Plötzlich stört ihn was an seinem Anzug,
Suddenly something on his clothing bothers him;
Er besieht sich rings und findet richtig -
He looks himself all over and finds it precisely -
Einen weissen Fleck des hellen Mondes
A white spot of the bright moonlight
Auf dem Rücken seines schwarzen Rockes.
On the back of his black coat.
Warte! Denkt er: das ist so ein Gipsfleck!
"Wait!" he thinks: "It's some plaster spot!"
Wischt und wischt, doch - bringt ihn nicht herunter!
He wipes and wipes it but - can't wipe it away!
Und so geht er, giftgeschwollen, weiter,
And so he walks onward, swollen with venom,
Reibt und reibt bis an den fruhen Morgen -
Rubs and rubs until early in the morning -
Einen weissen Fleck des hellen Mondes.
A white spot of the bright moonlight.
19. SERENADE
Mit groteskem Riesenbogen
With a grotesque gigantic bow
Kratzt Pierrot auf seiner Bratsche,
Pierrot scrapes on his viola,
Wie der Storch auf einem Beine,
Like the stork on one leg,
Knipst er trüb ein Pizzicato.
He mournfully plucks a pizzicato.
Plötzlich naht Cassander - wütend
Suddenly Cassander approaches - furious
Ob des nächtigen Virtuosen -
Over the nocturnal virtuoso -
Mit groteskem Riesenbogen
With a grotesque gigantic bow
Kratzt Pierrot auf seiner Bratsche.
Pierrot scrapes on his viola.
Von sich wirft er jetzt die Bratsche:
Now he throws aside the viola:
Mit der delikaten Linken
With his delicate left hand
Fasst er den Kahlkopf am Kragen -
He seizes the bald man by the collar -
Träumend spielt er auf der Glatze
Dreamily he plays on the bald head
Mit groteskem Riesenbogen.
With a grotesque gigantic bow.
20. HEIMFAHRT (JOURNEY HOME) (Barcarole)
Der Mondstrahl ist das Ruder,
The moonbeam is the oar,
Seerose dient als Boot:
The water lily serves as the boat:
Drauf fährt Pierrot gen Süden
On it Pierrot travels south
Mit gutem Reisewind.
Wafted by a favorable wind.
Der Strom summt tiefe Skalen
The river hums low scales
Und wiegt den leichten Kahn.
And rocks the light craft.
Der Mondstrahl ist das Ruder,
The moonbeam is the oar,
Seerose dient als Boot.
The water lily serves as the boat.
Nach Bergamo, zur Heimat,
To Bergamo, his homeland,
Kehrt nun Pierrot zuruck,
Pierrot now returns;
Schwach dammert schon im Osten
In the east the green horizon
Der grane Horizont.
Is already visible in the pale daybreak.
- Der Mondstrahl ist das Ruder.
- The moonbeam is the oar.
21. O ALTER DUFT (O ANCIENT FRAGRANCE)
O alter Duft aus Märchenzeit,
O ancient fragrance from the age of fairy tales,
Berauschest wieder meine Sinne!
Again you intoxicate my senses!
Ein närrisch Heer von Schelmerein
A foolish host of merry pranks
Durchschwirrt die leichte Luft.
Flits through the gentle breeze.
Ein glückhaft Wünschen macht mich froh
A happy desire for joys
Nach Freuden, die ich lang verachtet:
That I long contemned makes me cheerful:
O alter Duft aus Märchenzeit,
O ancient fragrance from the age of fairy tales,
Berauschest wieder mich!
Again you intoxicate me!
All meinen Unmut geb ich preis;
I give up all my ill humor;
Aus meinem sonnurnrahmten Fenster
Through my sunshine-framed window
Beschau ich frei die liebe Welt
I freely observe the dear world
Und träum hinaus in selge Weiten
And my dreams travel into blissful distances
O alter Duft - aus Märchenzeit!
O ancient fragrance - from the age of fairy tales!
Arnold Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire (1912)
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) is considered one of the most significant composers of the 20th century. He taught himself composition, with help in counterpoint from the Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky, and in 1899 produced his first major work, the tone poem Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) for string sextet. In this and other early works, the influences of Brahms, Mahler and others can be seen, though as his compositional style developed it became more concise and contrapuntally intricate. At the same time, Schoenberg's chromaticism intensified to the point that any strong tonal focus disappeared, which later led to his abandonment of conventional tonal harmony in favor of the twelve-tone and later the serial methods of composition, the styles with which his music is most often associated. Schoenberg held posts at the Academy of Arts in Berlin and, after fleeing Nazi Germany in 1933 and relocating to the United States in 1934, in Boston and at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he taught from 1936 to 1941. About Pierrot Lunaire, which is approximately 40 minutes in length, H. V. Doyle, Jr. remarks:
Arnold Schoenberg was attracted to the expressionist theatre of pre-World War I Vienna and Berlin, including a sort of high-class cabaret that used melodrama, words spoken to a musical accompaniment. The actress-singer Albertine Zehme, who sometimes declaimed poetry to the music of Chopin, was the artist for whom Schoenberg composed Pierrot Lunaire. She had been singing a song cycle by the now-forgotten Otto Wrieslander to poems by that name of the Belgian Albert Giraud, in German translation by Otto Erich Hartleben, but asked Schoenberg for a cycle of recitations with music for her evening cabaret performances. The composer saw this as a marvelous idea and selected 21 of the 50 poems, dividing them into three parts.
Schoenberg uses a variety of older forms, including canon and fugue, passacaglia and free counterpoint. He also varies the instrumentation so that no two poems sound alike. The entire ensemble plays only in the last poem. And Schoenberg employs not the 19th century spoken melodrama (like Richard Strauss' setting of Lord Tennyson's Enoch Arden), but a system of precise speech-rhythms with the approximate pitch at which the "reciter" should speak each syllable indicated in musical notation. This is called sprechgesang, "speechsong," and the "reciter" is not referred to by conventional vocal category, but as sprechstimme, "speaking voice," Schoenberg gave specific instructions that the "reciter" not use either conventional singing or conventional speech. The pitch was to be sounded, but not held, the "reciter" immediately moving up or down to the next pitch.
When we were asked to act as the Music Directors for the 2009 Ojai Music Festival, one of our initial programming ideas was a new staging of Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, a modern classic from which the ensemble derives its instrumental lineup, and which we have previously performed in a staging by the Blair Thomas Puppet Company. We immediately thought to approach experimental New York choreographer Mark DeChiazza, whom we had previously worked with on Susan Marshall's staging of Singing in the Dead of Night.
What began as a simple idea to add movement to a piece that we perform from memory, quickly grew into something far more profound. Director Mark DeChiazza imagined Pierrot Lunaire as a moon-drenched expressionist world, touched with a bit of the dark theatricality of cabaret, without recreating the specific details of either. Instead, Mark envisioned these sensibilities infused into a contemporary and spare production - a series of vivid, linked vignettes, each presenting a single action or development, all supporting the musical and thematic content of the piece.
Because we are compelled by Mark's vision, and would like to share this remarkable production with a wider audience, we are seeking you support.
Please consider becoming a Friend of Pierrot by making a tax-deductible donation today. Your money will go towards artists fees, travel costs, rehearsal space, costumes and sets, and enable us to fully realize this dramatic and inspired modern re-visioning of a definitive classic.
A donation of $500 or more will be enter you into a drawing for two round trip tickets to attend the Chicago dress rehearsal and premiere, and all donors at the $100 or more level will receive a custom designed, limited edition Friend of Pierrot t-shirt!
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eighth blackbird Performing Arts Association
5315 N. Clark #104
Chicago, IL 60640
Mark DeChiazza, director
Lucy Shelton, soprano
Elyssa Dole, dancerElyssa Dole was born in Texas and grew up in New Jersey, Iowa, and California. She received her early training at the San Francisco Ballet School and graduatedthe Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia where she studied for two years. She moved to New York to dance and to attend Barnard College, from which she graduated with honors, Phi Beta Kappa. Since then, Elyssa has been devoted to exploring, creating and supporting the performing arts as a freelance dancer and collaborator. Her recent projects include her work with Deganit Shemy and Dancers, a staged production of Pierrot lunaire with chamber music ensemble eighth blackbird, and the new multi-disciplinary work Diver, created by director Mark DeChiazza and composer Steve Mackey. She performed as "Helen" in Austin McCormick's Company XIV's The Judgement of Paris. Elyssa also dances with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet.