Verlaine & Hugo: Elizabeth Watts & Julius Drake

Elizabeth Watts soprano
Julius Drake piano

Two giants of French literature are heard through the music of Liszt, Hahn and Debussy, also complemented by a set of songs by Frank Bridge. Elizabeth Watts is one of the UK’s brightest star sopranos, and is joined by internationally-recognised pianist Julius Drake.

PROGRAMME

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Settings of Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

Enfant, si j'étais roi
S'il est un charmant gazon
Comment disaient-ils
La tombe et la rose
Quand tu changes, bercée
Oh! Quand je dors

Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947)

Reverie (Victor Hugo)
Si mes vers avaient des ailes (Victor Hugo)
I'incrédule (Paul Verlaine: 1844-1896)
Fetes galantes (Paul Verlaine)

INTERVAL

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Ariettes Oubliées (Paul Verlaine)

1. C'est l'extase
2. Il pleure dans mon coeur
3. L'ombre des arbres
4. Chevaux de bois
5. Green 
6. Spleen

Frank Bridge (1879-1941)

So early in the morning, O (James Stephens)
Come to me in my dreams (Matthew Arnold)
Day after day (Rabindranath Tagore)
What shall I your true love tell (Francis Thompson)
O that it were so (Walter Savage Landor)
Love went a-riding (Mary Coleridge)