Strauss’ Four Last Songs bathe in an autumunal spirit of sentimentality. 

Long enamored with music for voice and orchestra, Strauss wrote his

first song cycle with orchestra (Lieder aus letzte Blatter, Op. 10) at age

twenty and returned to this genre for the last time at age eighty-four, a

year before his death. For this cycle Strauss chose three poems by the

German novelist Hermann Hesse (1877-1962): Friihling, September,

and Beim Schlafengehn, and one by Joseph von Eichendorff (1788—

1857): Im Abendrot. About the first three songs, critic Heinz Becker 

stated: “All the tonal magic of his life’s creative achievements once

again came into its own,” and about the fourth, “It [afforded] a crowning 

conclusion to this cycle [in] song.”

Because of his genuine love of children and their uniquely personal 

world, Elgar was inspired to compose a series of compositions dealing 

with this subject matter, one of which was The Wand of Youth Suite, Op.

lb. The story is told that Elgar’s teenage children wrote a play depicting 

a faultless world free of meddlesome adults, who were excluded. 

Allowed in, however, were the likes of wild bears, moths, butterflies, 

fairies and giants. Adults were admitted only if they could repent their 

adult behavior, while at the same time begging for forgiveness, which

would have to be on a judgmental basis. The first of the two suites

inspired by this story (Op. la) was presented to the public in 1907. It

was so successful that Elgar immediately composed a second suite and

presented it the next year.

Program notes by Elmer Booze

The use ofcameras or recording equipment during

the performance is not allowed.

For the convenience ofconcertgoers

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:30 p.m.

Selectionsfrom concerts at the Gallery

can be heard on the second Sunday ofeach month

at 9:00 p.m. on WGMS, 103.5 FM.

The Fifty-ninth Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2362d Concert

NATIONAL GALLERY ORCHESTRA

GEORGE MANOS, conductor

ALESSANDRA MARC, soprano, guest artist

Sunday Evening, 19 November 2000

Seven O'clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
PROGRAM

Antonin Dvorak

(1841-1904)

Czech Suite in D Major 

Op. 39 (1879)

1. Preludium: Allegro moderato

2. Polka: Allegretto grazioso

3. Minuetto: Allegro giusto

4. Romanza: Andante con moto

5. Furiant: Presto

Richard Strauss

(1864-1949)

Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs)

(1948)

1. Beim Schlafengehen

2. September

3. Friihling

4. Im Abendrot

INTERMISSION

Sir Edward Elgar The Wand

(1857-1934)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

March

The Little bells

Moths and Butterflies 

Fountain Dance

The Tame Bear

The Wild Bears

of Youth, Suite No. 2

Op. lb (1908)

Conductor, composer, and pianist George Manos has been director of

music at the National Gallery of Art and conductor of the National

Gallery Orchestra since 1985. He is also artistic director of the American

Music Festival and the National Gallery vocal and chamber ensembles,

which he founded. Manos’ career as a performing pianist and teacher has

included several years on the faculty of The Catholic University of

America in Washington, DC, where he taught piano, conducting, and

chamber music. In addition, he held the directorship of the Wilmington,

Delaware School of Music, presenting an annual jazz festival and clinic.

Maestro Manos founded and directed for ten years the renowned 

Kilarney Bach Festival in the Republic of Ireland and was the music

director of the 1992 Scandinavian Music Festival in Kolding, Denmark.

“Une etoile est nee (A Star is Born),” headlined Le Figaro (Paris). The

New Yorker proclaimed: “...an instrument of unsurpassed beauty and

impact and perhaps the richest, fullest, most beautiful big soprano voice

around.” Such accolades have been and continue to be a staple in the

career of the outstanding American soprano Alessandra Marc. Frequent 

guest appearances in the most prestigious opera houses and concert halls

throughout the world have brought her into collaboration with the most

eminent conductors of our time, including Giuseppe Sinopoli, Daniel

Barenboim, Sir George Solti, Zubin Mehta, Michael Tilson Thomas, and

Lorin Maazel. Miss Marc’s discography is likewise impressive. Delos

Records issued her first aria recital recording, American Diva, and her

newest releases include four on the Teldec label: Schoenberg’s

Erwartung, Berg’s Altenherg Lieder and Lulu Suite, with Sinopoli and

the Dresden Staatskapelle, and the final scene of Richard Strauss’

Salome with the North German Radio Orchestra.

In his Czech Suite, Op. 39, Dvorak set five indigenous Czech folk

dances for orchestra. He originally intended to write a triptych from a

series of his orchestral serenades, but abandoned the idea and instead

wrote five dance pieces to form a suite. The full title Czech Suite was

incoiporated for the premiere performance, held in 1879 at the Academy

of the Association of Czech Journalists at the New Prague Theater and

conducted by Adolf Cechs.
4

Im Abendrot (von Eichendorff)

Wir sind durch Not und Freude

Gegangen Hand in Hand:

Vom Wandem ruhen wir beide

Nun tiberm stillen Land.

Rings sich die Taler neigen,

Es dunkelt schon die Luft,

Zwei Lerchen nur noch steigen

Nachtraumend in den Duft.

Tritt her und lass sie schwirren,

Bald ist es Schlafenzeit,

Dal3 wir uns nicht verirren

In dieser Einsamkeit.

O weiter, stiller Friede!

So tiefim Abendrot,

Wie sind wir wandermiide -

Ist dies etwa der Tod?

In the Glow of the Sunset

Through troubles and joys

we have gone, hand in hand.

Now both of us rest from our 

wanderings, high above the

still countryside.

All around us, the valleys

descend; the sky grows dark;

Only two larks, remembering a

dream, rise into the haze.

Come here, and let them fly

(soon it will be time to sleep),

lest we lose our way in this

loneliness.

O, wide, still peace!

So deep in the glow ofthe sunset;

How weary we are with

wanderingCan this, then, be death?

Texts and Translations

Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs

(The songs will be sung in the order in which the texts appear.)

Friihling (Hesse)

In dammrigen Griiften

Traumte ich lang

Von deinen Baumen und blauen 

Liiften,

Von deinem Duft und

Vogelgesang.

Nun liegst du erschlossen 

In Gleib und Zier,

Von licht iibergossen 

Wie ein Wunder vor mir.

Du kennst mich wieder

Du lockest mich zart,

Es zittert durch all meine Glieder 

Deine selige Gegenwart!

Spring

In twilit valleys

I have long dreamt 

of your trees and

blue skies,

your perfumes and your 

bird-song.

Now you lie before me, revealed 

in glistening splendor,

flooded with light,

like a miracle.

You know me again;

You lure me gently;

All my limbs tremble

with your blessed presence!
2

September (Hesse)

Der Garten trauert,

kiihl sinkt in die Blumen der 

Regen.

Der Sommer schauert

still seinem Ende entgegen.

Golden tropft Blatt um Blatt nieder vom hohen Akazienbaum.

Sommer lachelt erstaunt und matt

in den sterbenden

Gartentraum.

Lange noch bei den rosen

bleibt er stehn,

sehnt sich nach Ruh.

Langsam tut er die Miidgewordnen Augen zu.

September

The garden mourns;

The cool rain sinks into the

flowers;

The summer shudders 

silently toward its end.

Leaf after golden leaf

drops from the tall acacia.

The summer smiles, astonished 

and weary, into the garden’s

dying dream.

He remains standing among the

roses for a long time,

yearning for rest.

Slowly he closes his eyes, heavy

with fatigue.

3

Beim Schlafengehen (Hesse)

Nun der Tag mich miid gemacht, 

Soil mein sehnliches Verlangen 

Freundlich die gestimte Nacht 

Wie ein miides Kind empfangen.

Hande, laBt von allem Tun,

Stim, vergiB du alles Denken,

Alle meine Sinne nun

Wollen sich in Schlummer

senken.

Und die Seele unbewacht,

Will in freien Fliigen schweben, 

Um im Zauberkreis der Nacht 

Tief und tausendfach zu leben.

Going to Sleep

Now the day has tired me;

May my passionate longing 

receive the starry night like a

sleepy child.

Hands, leave your doing;

Brain, leave your thinking;

All my senses would now sink

into slumber.

And the unwatched soul wants to

soar up freely; to live, in the

magic circle ofthe night, a

thousand times more

intensely.