The use of cameras or recording equipment during

the performance is not allowed. Please he sure that cell

phones, pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

For the convenience of concert goers

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

The Sixty-second Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2481st Concert

JENNIFER AYLMER, soprano

KENNETH MERRILL,pianist

Presented in honor ofthe exhibition 

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, 1783-1853

Sunday Evening, 18 January 2004

Seven O'clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree

41
Program

Christoph Ernst Friedrich Weyse

(1774-1842)

Peter Heise

(1830-1879)

P. E. Lange-Miiller

(1850-1926)

Carl Nielsen

(1865-1931)

Edvard Grieg 

(1843-1907)

Skon jomfru

Theklas sang

Skovensomhed

Akande

TEbleblomst

Irmelin Rose

Erindringens so

Sommersang

Faraarsregen

(Text by Holger Drachmann)

To brune ojne

Jeg elsker Dig

(Texts by Hans Christian Andersen)

Intermission

Seascapes

Gaetano Donizetti

(1797-1848)

Giacomo Puccini

(1858-1924)

Giacomo Rossini

(1792-1868)

Oh, vieni al mare

Terra e mare

La Gita in gondola

Landscapes

Gabriel Faure

(1845-1924)

Clair de lune

La lune blanche

Done, ce serva par un clair d’ete

L’hiver a cesse

Portraits

Benjamin Britten

(1913-1976)

Sweet Polly Oliver 

The Last Rose of Summer 

Oliver Cromwell

The Musicians

Following Jennifer Aylmer’s October 2002 Weill Recital Hall

appearance in the New York Festival of Song, the New York Times

exclaimed: “Ms. Aylmer’s name has been getting around recently, and

deservedly so; hearing her live was one of the great pleasures of the

evening. She has a healthy, strong voice; her sound is not manufactured,

but clear and her own.” Richard Houdek of the Berkshire Eagle wrote:

“Jennifer Aylmer headed the excellent cast in her Berkshire Opera debut

as the Governess. Aylmer’s nimble, multifaceted soprano has served her

well in the newest works of contemporary composers. In her turn as the

Governess, she displayed a vast range of telling vocal color from bellpure pianissimos to robust, dark-edged fortes on her journey from

innocence to madness.”

The 2003-2004 season for this multitalented singer includes her

first Pamina in Die Zauberflote with the New York City Opera and

Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream as she debuts with the Lyric

Opera of Kansas City. Orchestral engagements include a debut with the

Cincinnati Symphony in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, conducted by Paavo

Jarvi, and Lukas Foss’ Time Cycle with the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

Aylmer’s recital appearances include concerts at the Wolf Trap Center 

for the Performing Arts, the New York Festival of Song, and a program

of Catalan music at Weill Hall in New York and again in the Terrace
Theater at the Kennedy Center. In addition, she will perform a program

of music of Richard Rodgers and Vernon Duke at the Library of

Congress. Continuing her association with the Marilyn Horne

Foundation, Aylmer appears in recital and residency at the University of

Buffalo.

Jennifer Alymer received a career grant from the William

Matheus Sullivan Foundation, the Richard F. Gold Career Grant, an

encouragement award from Opera Index, and membership in the

National Society of Arts and Letters. In 1996 she received the Catherine

Filene Shouse Career Grant from the Wolf Trap Opera Company as well

as several opera fellowship awards at the Aspen Music Festival. A native

of Long Island, New York, Aylmer received her bachelor’s degree and

performer’s certificate from the Eastman School of Music. She appears at

the National Gallery by arrangement with Colbert Artists Management of

New York City.

Pianist Kenneth Merrill has appeared in concert with many

vocal artists, including Gerard Souzay, Anna Moffo, Robert Merrill,

James King, Neil Rosenshein, John Aler, Anthony Dean Griffey, Randal

Scarlata, Charlotte Hellekant, Faith Esham, Jennifer Aylmer, and

Jeanette Thompson. As a conductor of opera, he has led productions of

John Blow’s Venus and Adonis, Britten’s The Burning Fiery Furnace,

The Beggar’s Opera, and Albert Herring, Monteverdi’s L'incoronazione

di Poppea, Mozart’s The Impresario and Die Zauberflote, and Purcell's

Dido and Aeneas, among others. In association with the Houston Grand

Opera, he was head of musical preparation for Rossini’s La Cenerentola

with Cecilia Bartoli in the title role. He also played continuo in that

performance, which was subsequently released on the London CD label

as well as on video. Kenneth Merrill is a faculty member of the Juilliard 

School Vocal Arts Department, the Manhattan School of Music, where

he teachers song repertoire and accompanying, and the Aspen Music

Festival, where he is head coach for the Aspen Opera Theater Center.

Program Notes

While Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) and Spren Kierkegaard

(1813-1815) are the most famous names in Danish culture in the early

nineteenth century, the period is also known as the “Golden Age” of

Danish painting. The Danish artists and composers who flourished 

during that period are not widely recognized outside that country, but

their works are loved and respected by those who are familiar with them.

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783-1853), whose paintings are the

focus of a current exhibition at the National Gallery, is considered the

father of the “Golden Age” of Danish painting. He was not only a master 

portrait and landscape artist but also a professor at the Copenhagen

Academy, and as such a primary influence in Denmark at a time of

intense artistic activity. One of his most noted portraits is that of the

Danish sculptor and musician Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844), whose

circle of admirers included Felix Mendelssohn, Gaitano Donizetti, and

Gioacchino Rossini. No notable compositions by Thorvaldsen survive,

but three of his contemporaries, Christoph Ernst Friedrich Weyse (1774—

1842), Friedrich Kuhlau (1786-1832), and Johann Peter Emilius

Hartmann (1805-1900), wrote songs and operas on texts by Hans

Christian Andersen and contributed worthy cantatas, concertos, chamber 

music, and piano sonatas to the repertoire of works in classical style. The

exhibition Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, 1783-1853, was organized

by the National Gallery of Art in collaboration with the Statens Museum

for Kunst, Copenhagen, and the Royal Danish Embassy, Washington. It

remains on view until 29 February 2004.

Program notes by Elmer Booze