Lunchtime recital featuring Schumann, Reynaldo Hahn and Charles Villers Stanford

On Tuesday, Dr Courtney (Head of History) and Dr Joyce (Head of Latin) gave a 35 minute musical recital featuring some of Schumann, Reynaldo Hahn and Charles Villiers Stanford’s songs. Dr Joyce, on both the piano and the organ, masterfully accompanied Dr Courtney, who sang the songs.

The recital started off with all 9 movements of the Liederkreise, which follows In the footsteps of its predecessor, Schubert’s equally moving Lieder, or art songs. (These include Erlkonig, Schwanengesang, and Die Schone Mullerin). The 9 movements intertwined the affection expressed in the poetry with the rich harmonic quality of Schumann’s music, where the piano and the voice intertwined seamlessly. Dr Joyce’s piano playing reflected this beautifully, accompanying the touching lyrics sang by Dr Courtney.

Dann löst sich des Liedes Zauberbann,

Die Blaßen Buchstaben Schaun dich an,

Sie schauen dir flehend oms schone Aug’,

Und flüstern mit Wehmut und Liebeshauch

(The magic spell on my songs shall be broken;

the pale letters shall gaze at you,

gaze beseechingly into your lovely eyes,

and whisper with the melancholy breath of love)

The second part included the songs of the little known but prolific French-Venezuelan composer Reynaldo Hahn. The first song was ‘L’heure esquise’, based on the poetry by Paul-Marie Verlaine. The second was ‘Á Chloris’, based on the poem by Theophile de Viau was based on Bach’s ‘Air on the G string’ (Baroque pastiche).

To finish, we heard two songs from The Bible Songs by Charles Villiers Stanford. These two songs were accompanied by the organ.

This recital follows two similar ones from last year. One was where the Aske-Princeton Fellow Mr Leung played a series on pieces on the piano, the second where Dr Courtney and Dr Joyce performed Schubert’s Lieder. We hope to have many more recitals in the future where teachers as well as students can share their love of music.