historical ones based on Cavafy’s reading ofHomer and Shakespeare.

Trojans and Satrapy represent the poet’s personal reflections on the

meaning of historical events in his private life. The other poems

chosen belong to Cavafy’s most tender and intimate creations.With

their strongly erotic undercurrent and bittersweet sense of resig­

nation, they occupya special place in the modern poetry canon.

LeavingAlexandria was written on the Ligurian coast of Italy during

the fall of 1997, while Zebrowski was ona fellowship from the

Bogliasco Foundation. The world premiere ofthe cycle took place in

April 1998 at the Teatro Carlo Felice in the Opera House ofGenoa.

-Program notes by Chris Pedro Trakas and Marek Zebrowski

Adapted and edited by Elmer Booze

The use ofcameras orrecording equipment

during theperformance is not allowed.

Forthe convenience ofconcertgoers

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

The Fifty-eighth Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and E LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2319th Concert

Chris Pedro Trakas, baritone

Marek Zebrowski, pianist

Sunday Evening, 17 October 1999 

SevenO’clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree - h i
PROGRAM

Robert Schumann Dichterliebe

(1810-1856) Op. 48 (1840)

1. Im wunderschonen Monat Mai

2. Aus meinen Tranen spriessen

3. Die Rose, die Lilie, die Taube, die Sonne

4. Wenn ich in deine Augen seh’

5. Ich will meine Seele tauchen

6. Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome

7. Ich grolle nicht

8. Und wiissten’s die Blumen, die kleinen

9. Das ist ein Floten und Geigen

10. Hor’ ich das Liedchen klingen

11. Ein Jungling liebt ein Madchen

12. Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen

13. Ich hab’ im Traum geweinet

14. Allnachtlich im Traume seh’ ich dich

15. Aus alten Marchen winkt es

16. Die alten, bosen Lieder

INTERMISSION

Marek Zebrowski

(b. 1953)

1. The Horses ofAchilles

2. Monotony

3. Before the House

4. Trojans

5. Very Seldom

6. In the Same Space

Leaving Alexandria

(1997)

7. The Satrapy

8. That They Might Appear

9. The City

10. An Old Man

11. He Came to Read

12. The God Forsakes Anthony

Chris Pedro Trakasis celebrated for the variety ofhis repertoire

and for the intense artistry he brings to his performances in opera,

recital, and concert venues. Asa winner ofthe WalterW Naumburg

Award for Concert Singers (sharing first prize with soprano Dawn

Upshaw), Trakas has appeared in recitals at Alice Tully Hall and the

Kaufman Auditorium in New York, at the Kennedy Center Terrace

Theatre inWashington, and at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. Other

awards include the Young Concerts Artists International Auditions,

anda National Endowment for the Arts solo recitalist grant. His

numerous appearances with world’s leading orchestras have featured a diverse repertoire, ranging from Bach, Cimarosa, and Berlioz to

Brahms, Orff, and Bernstein. His operatic credits include Harlekin

in Strauss’ Ariadne aufNaxos at the Metropolitan Opera, Count

Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with the Festival dei Due

Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, and its counterpart in Charleston, South

Carolina, and as Pelleas in Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande with the

Basel Theater. His numerous other opera roles have included Dandini

in Rossini’s La Cenerentola with the Washington Opera. Having per­

formed early in his career (1988) at the National Gallery, Trakas has

gone on to bea featured soloist in Jewish Voices in America at the 92nd

Street“Y,” to be heard on National Public Radio’s Performance Today,

and to perform in Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series. His

recordings of works of Ravel, Respighi, Barber, Spohr, deFalla,

Poulenc, and other composers can be found on the Koch Interna­

tional, MusicMasters, Evzon and ASV labels. Chris Pedro Trakas

appears at the Gallery by arrangement with Trawick Artists of New

York City.

Marek Zebrowski was born in Poznan, Poland, and began study­

ing piano at he age of five. After graduating with highest honors

from the Poznan Music Lyceum, he went to France, where he wasa

pupil ofRobert Casadesus and Nadia Boulanger. Zebrowski came to

the United States in 1973, and continued his study of the piano

with Russell Sherman at the New England Conservatory of Music,

where he received both the bachelor and master of music degrees.

Appearing extensively as soloist in recitals and with orchestras, he

has been hailed as“firm and eminently musical“ (Boston Globe),

and“strong and noble” (Washington Post), with similar accolades

appearing in newspapers throughout the world. Asa recording art­

ist, his catalog ofworks includes compositions by Bach, Beethoven,

Chopin, Debussy, Scriabin, and Prokofiev, done for Polish Radio. In

addition, he has recorded works by Ravel, Prokofiev, and Schumann

in Germany on the Apollo label. Zebrowski is also recognized world­

wide asa composer. His compositions include orchestral and cham­

ber works, original piano pieces, and piano transcriptions. He has 

received commissions from Meet the Composer, The New En­

gland String Quartet, Premiere Productions, and the Central Eu­

ropeTrustin theUnited Kingdom. His pianocompositionExtemporewona

second prize at the 1997 International Composition Competition

in The Hague. In addition to his activities asa pianist and com­

poser, he has been

a frequent lecturer for the Boston Symphony

Orchestra, Harvard University, and the New England Conserva­

tory of Music, anda contributing writer for the Boston Book Re­

view. Renowned asa teacher and interpreter ofmusic, he has given

numerous master classes and coached various chamber music en­

sembles and orchestras. Zebrowski is presently on the faculty of

the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology.

Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Op. 40, was inspired bya collec­

tion ofsixty-five poems by Heinrich Heine, published in 1823 un­

der the title LyrischesIntermezzo. Although there is no actual narrative

throughout Heine’s cycle, Schumann’s choice ofsixteen ofthe texts

follows the chronological order of the poems. He begins with po­

ems describinga happy blossoming oflove (Im wunderschonen Monat

Mai, Aus meinen Tranen.) and continues toa tragic end, when love

and hope are abandoned all the way and buried {Die alten, bosen

Lieder). Schumann’s settings of Heine are extraordinary for many

reasons, among them the exemplary sensitivity in preserving the

declamatory rhythm ofspeech in the vocal line and the introduc­

tion in the piano writing of a new dimension in partnership be­

tween singer and pianist. This partnership brings about an equal

contribution from each performer that leads toa perfect rendition

of the intimate atmosphere of Heine’s texts. The extended piano

postludes, harmoniously complementing the poignant endings of

Heine’s verses, complete the extraordinary unity between words

and music.

Alexandria, Egypt, the city where Constantine Cavafy lived most

of his life and where he died in 1933, was home toa large Greek

community, as well asa vibrant crossroads for many cultures and

civilizations throughout history. In his poetry Cavafy freely exploits

some personal subjects, often placing them in Alexandria’s glorious past, from the Hellenistic period to the more recent years of

Arab conquest. From 150 poems (published by the author mainly

for distribution among his friends), Marek Zebrowski selected

twelve that presenta broad spectrum ofCavafy’s subjects and styles. 

Poems such as Horses ofAchilles and The GodAbandons Anthony are