This is the program for the faculty recital featuring bass-baritone Paul Hammond and pianist George Keck. This recital took place on April 23, 1985, in the Mabee Fine Arts Center Recital Hall

Hammond, Paul

Keck, George

English

Ouachita Baptist University

Ouachita Baptist University Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita Faculty Performances Faculty Publications 4-23-1985 Paul Hammond and George Keck in a Faculty Recital Paul Hammond Ouachita Baptist University George Keck Ouachita Baptist University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/fac_perform  Part of the Music Education Commons, and the Music Performance Commons Recommended Citation Hammond, Paul and Keck, George, "Paul Hammond and George Keck in a Faculty Recital" (1985). Faculty Performances. 102. https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/fac_perform/102 This Program is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Publications at Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Performances by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita. For more information, please contact mortensona@obu.edu. OUACHITA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY School of Music presents PAUL HAMMOND. Bass-baritone GEORGE KECK. Pianist in F ACUL TV RECITAL April 23, 1985 7:00 P.M. Mabee Fine Arts Center Recital Hall PROGRAM I Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen (BWV 56) J. S. Bach (1685- 1750) / Ariettes oubliees (1888) Il pleure dans mon coeur Romance Chevaux de bois Gebet (1888) Lebe wohl (1888) Fussreise (1888) The Old Arm Chair (1840) Gentle Annie (1856) Take Joy Home (1983) II III IV Claude Debussy (1862-1918) Hugo Wolf (1860- 1903) Henry Russell (1812 - 1900) Stephen C. Foster (1826- 1864) Alice Jordan (b. 1916) PROGRAM NOTES I "Ich will den Kruezstab", the "cross-staff" cantata, was written by J. S. Bach in Leipzig in 1726. Albert Schweitzer calls this "one of the most splendid of Bach's works." Matthew 9:1-8 is the scriptural basis for the text of this cantata. Jesus' healing of the paralytic after crossing the sea calls forth motives of the sea and a "voyage" through life, led by the cross. The first aria begins with a confident assertion: I will my cross-staff gladly carry, It comes from God's beloved hand. It leads me safe through all my trouble To God in His long promised land. The middle section is characterized by a rhythmic change to triplets in the voice against an eighth-note figure in the accompaniment. A mood of tranquility is thus created for the heavenly port: There will I lay down all my sorrows and sighs, ~!y Savior will wipe all the tears from my eyes. In the second number, an arioso, Bach creates a musical depiction of Jesus' crossing the sea. The bass sings that his journey through life is like a ship at sea and that Jesus will bring him safely to heaven's port. The third number is a ecstatic da capo aria proclaiming the joyful anticipation of Christ's coming. A recitative reasserts the faithful's desire to lay down all sorrows and to wipe all the tears from his eyes. The final chorale is a plea for death to come and end life's voyage. II Debussy represents the radical, forward-looking developments in nineteenth cen-tury music that took place in France with the impressionists. His Ariettes oubliees, written in 1888, illustrate his mature song style. "Il pleure dans mon coeur" is a melancholy song depicting an inexplicable sorrow that falls like rain upon the city. ••Romance", one of Debussy 1 s most frequently performed songs, recalls the memory of a love that has been swept away on the wind. "Chevaux de bois" depicts the horses of a merry-go-round which turn endlessly on the carousel and produce a momentary intoxica-tion for those "with empty stomachs and dizzy heads, feeling altogether badly, yet happy in the crowd . " Ill The three songs by Wolf were also written in 1888 to poems by Eduard M;ricke. These represent late German romanticism in the wake of Richard Wagner. "Gebet" is a prayer that neither joy or sorrow will overwhelm the poet, for in the middle, he says, lies true contentment. "Lebe wohl" (farewell) is the somber expression of a broken heart. "Fussreise" (a walk), by contrast, depicts an exuberant early morning walk in the woods during which the poet recognizes that the "old Adam" is not as bad as the "stern teachers" say. IV During this same period, Americans were taken with a form of popular music known as "sentimental ballads." A host of these songs were found in the parlors of Victorian America. An English ballad singer, Henry Russell, toured America singing such works as "Woodman, Spare that Tree" and "The Old Arm Chair." Stephen Foster, America's best known composer of the period, rose above the gen-erally low level of the sentimental ballad with his minstrel songs and Irish-style ballads such as "Gentle Annie." This tender song ranks as one of his best efforts. The recital concludes with a contemporary sacred song written by Alice Jordan for baritone Sherrill Milnes. 

Paul Hammond and George Keck in a Faculty Recital

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Paul Hammond and George Keck in a Faculty Recital

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Ouachita Baptist University