 |
Wilde, Symphony for Baritone and Orchestra (1990/1995)
| composer |
Charles Fussell (b. 1938) |
| performers |
Sanford Sylvan, baritone
Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Gil Rose, conductor |
| affiliation |
ASCAP |
| label |
BMOP/sound 1005http://www.bmopsound.org
|
| duration |
36:28 |
Michael Moore:
"Fussell has called Wilde a symphony that wants to be an opera, as it is operatic both in scope and construction. Librettist Will Graham, a frequent collaborator, crafted a text that weaves together excerpts of Wilde's writings, letters, and poetry along with original material. It is in the format of letters to his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, a device which not only gives access to Wilde's thoughts but also allows Wilde to narrate his own actions. It also allows the many facets of Wilde's life to be telescoped into a single day in the first movement.
"Oscar Wilde was one of the most celebrated literary figures in Victorian England, a writer of poetry, articles, short stories, and plays. Always theatrical, he created a unique public persona for himself ... He was known for his quick and sardonic wit and, despite his more modest circumstances, became a fixture in society. In 1884, Wilde married Constance Lloyd, and the couple had two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan. At the same time, Wilde also took a number of male lovers, including Douglas ... He became increasingly open about his sexual proclivities, a reckless position to take because any homosexual act, consensual or not, private or not, was then illegal in Britain.
"In 1895, when Wilde takes up the story, he was at the height of his career. With the premiere of The Importance of Being Earnest, he had opened six plays in the past five years. But his life was about to take an abrupt turn. Douglas' father, the Marquess of Queensberry, became determined to end his son's relationship with Wilde and to destroy the writer's reputation ... Against the advice of his friends, Wilde had Queensberry charged with criminal libel.
"The trial was a disaster for Wilde. Queensberry had hired detectives to uncover the details of Wilde's sexual life ... Based on the evidence produced at the trial, a warrant was then issued for Wilde, who was tried, eventually convicted of gross indecency, and sentenced to two years in prison. His imprisonment was unnecessarily harsh; initially he was even denied pen and paper. It broke not only his health but also his spirit. [...]
"When he was released from prison, he fled to the Continent, roaming about Italy and Southern France, trying to resume his old life. Douglas joined him briefly, but they soon separated. Unable to write, chronically short of funds, estranged by his family, friends, and the society which served as much of his inspiration, Wilde gradually sank into a life of hedonism. He died in Paris on November 30, 1900 of cerebral meningitis, most likely a complication of the injury he had sustained in prison.
"Wilde opens with the sounds of a bustling London softly muted by the freshly fallen snow. The music reflects Wilde's varying moods -- his ebullience and vanity, his nostalgia as he recalls a vacation to Algiers with Douglas. Fussell conjures up a Victorian music-hall stage band as Wilde tosses off a bawdy song. This buskers' tune becomes more introspective as one gets a brief glimpse of Wilde behind his façade, and his 'duty' to shock the staid Victorian sensibilities and hold up a mirror to society's complacency and hypocrisy ... Ordering flowers for Constance's room, Wilde quotes a fragment of one of his most beautiful poems, 'To My Wife,' accompanied by the buskers' tune, now transformed into a romantic ballad. But when he speaks of his sons, the orchestra drops away and Wilde continues a cappella ... There is an extended quotation from his fairy tale 'The Selfish Giant,' written for his sons. In the story, the child whom the giant loved is a Christ figure who ultimately takes him to paradise. But Fussell uses the same musical phrase to introduce the child as he used to introduce Wilde's sons. It was his sons, like the child in the story, who broke down the walls that Wilde had erected around himself and taught him how to love. [...]
"The second movement, 'In the South' (1897-98), is set for orchestra only. It opens with dramatically ominous music, punctuated by drumbeats played on the rims of the drums, recalling the pounding of the judge's gavel and the slamming of prison doors. The music soon becomes agitated, almost frenetic, mirroring Wilde's restless wandering as he desperately tries to resume his life. The agitated music is interrupted by a Neapolitan waltz ... and finally gives way to even more agitated music. The music calms at the end, as if Wilde has finally exhausted himself and accepted his fate.
"The final movement, Paris (1900), opens with the same musical phrase which closed the preceding movement. Wilde is on his deathbed, unable to summon his customary bravado, worn down by pain and resigned to death. His thoughts have turned to religion, but as he did in all things in life, he meets religion on his own terms. He sees Christ as a young man beckoning him, and he will go with him as he has gone with other handsome strangers. In a wonderful symmetry with the first movement, Wilde ends by asking now for the same gift that the child gave the selfish giant. The music ends with a widely spaced 12-tone chord for the winds, neither consonant nor dissonant, a fitting ending, perhaps, for a man who embodied so many contradictory elements in his life."
Charles Fussell's (b. 1938) major works include three operas and six symphonies, two of which are for chorus and orchestra. Among the writers whose works have inspired Fussell are Hart Crane, Gustave Flaubert, William Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, and Oscar Wilde.
A native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Fussell studied composition with Thomas Canning and Bernard Rogers at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He continued his studies in Germany with Boris Blacher at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik and Bayreuth Masterclasses with Friedelind Wagner. He later was assistant to and close friend of composer Virgil Thomson.
Fussell taught at the University of Massachusetts, North Carolina School for the Arts, and for many years at Boston University. While in Boston he directed the contemporary music festival New Music Harvest and co-founded with James Yannatos the New England Composers Orchestra. Many of his works have been premiered and recorded by Boston ensembles including the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Cantata Singers, Collage New Music, and Lydian String Quartet. Recordings may be found on the labels Albany, BMOP/sound, Koch International Classics, and Neuma. Fussell currently lives in Woodside, New York City, and teaches at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
related websites
http://musicweb.rutgers.edu/info/fac-bio/fussell
From songs of Franz Schubert to operas of John Adams, baritone Sanford Sylvan has performed in recital and with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the world. He is a regular performer with the New York City Opera, and is closely associated with the productions of directors Peter Sellars, Robert Wilson, Sir Peter Hall, and Andrei Serban. Sylvan has developed longstanding relationships with composers Adams and John Harbison, whose works he has premiered. He has appeared at festivals in the US and Europe, including regular annual performances at the Carmel and New England Bach Festivals. A Grammy and Emmy Award-winner for his role in Adams' opera Nixon In China (1985-1987), Sylvan can be heard on recordings by the BMOP/sound, Bridge, CRI, Decca, Harmonia Mundi, Koch International Classics, Musicmasters, New World, Nonesuch, Telarc, and Virgin Classics labels. He is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, and currently on the vocal faculty of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) has established itself as one of Boston's most active musical groups through creative programming, audience outreach, and auxiliary recording projects. It is one of the few orchestras in the United States devoted exclusively to contemporary music. Founded in 1996 by artistic director Gil Rose, the orchestra has commissioned, premiered, and recorded works by a wide range of composers including Arthur Berger, John Harbison, Lee Hyla, Steven Mackey, Bernard Rands, George Rochberg, Gunther Schuller, and Reza Vali. These performances can be found on the orchestra's own BMOP/sound label as well as on Albany, Arsis, Chandos, Naxos, New World, and Oxingale. BMOP is a ten-time winner of the ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming and has appeared at venues and festivals on both the East and West Coasts.
related websites
http://www.calartists.com/ssylvan.html
http://www.bmop.org
| |
