Song at Wolfson: Angharad Rowlands & Katy Thomson
28 November 2024, 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Included in this uplifting programme of Pre-Raphaelite poetry and music is a rare opportunity to hear Debussy's extraordinary cantata La Damoiselle élue. Premiered in 1893 and scored for orchestra, two soloists and a chorus of upper voices, this was one of Debussy's first great successes, and it was so popular that he created a version with piano in 1906. It sets a translation of 'The Blessed Damozel', the famous poem (and title of a complementary painting) by Gabriel Dante Rossetti.
Other settings of both Gabriel Rossetti and his sister Christina Rossetti complete the programme, with music by Vaughan Williams, Parry, Coleridge-Taylor and Ireland. The performers include two former Oxford Song Young Artists, both now regular performers at the Festival, and upper-voice members of one of Oxford's leading choirs.
This special concert has been developed in partnership with the University of Birmingham, inspired by the Barber Institute of Fine Art's exhibition 'Scent and the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites'.
Programme
- Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958)
- Dreamland
- Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912)
- When I Am Dead, My Dearest from Six Sorrow Songs
- O Roses For the Flush of Youth from Six Sorrow Songs
- She Sat And Sang Alway from Six Sorrow Songs
- Unmindful Of The Roses from Six Sorrow Songs
- Oh, the summer
- Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958)
- Silent Noon (1903) from The House of Life
- Michael Head (1900 - 1976)
- A Green Cornfield (1923)
- Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956)
- Oh, fair to see Op. 13b from Oh Fair to See (song cycle)
- John Ireland (1879 - 1962)
- During Music
- Hubert Parry (1848 - 1918)
- My heart is like a singing bird (1874) from English Lyrics
- Thomas Dunhill (1877 - 1946)
- The months – February
*****
- Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)
- La damoiselle élue
Notes on the Programme
Debussy: La Damoiselle Élue
Settings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Christina Rossetti
