Program

Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Petite Suite
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
     1. En bateau (In the Boat)
     2. Cortège (Procession)
     3. Menuet
     4. Ballet

Symphony No. 4 in G Major
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), orch. Klaus Simon
     1. Bedächtig; nicht eilen (Deliberately. Not rushed)
     2. In gemächlicher Bewegung; ohne Hast (In easy motion. Without haste)
     3. Ruhevoll (Serene)
     4. Sehr behaglich (Very leisurely)

Michelle Areyzaga, Soprano

Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43
Ludwig van Beethoven

Born: December 17, 1770 (baptized), Bonn 
Died: March 26, 1837, Vienna
Composed: 1800-1801
Premiered: 1801, Burgtheater, Vienna
Approximate Duration: 5 minutes
Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 French horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings

Beethoven composed his only ballet, The Creatures of Prometheus, in 1801.  In sixteen scenes, Beethoven tells the story of Prometheus from Greek mythology, reinterpreting the myth through the ideals of the Enlightenment.  Beethoven portrays Prometheus, the Greek god who fashions the first man and woman from clay and water and then gives them life with fire stolen from heaven.  His creations come alive, but, like statues, they lack essential qualities that make them fully human.  Prometheus takes them to Mount Parnassus to be enlightened.  Gradually, various gods and goddesses teach them science, music, dance, and drama, granting them emotion, intellect, reason, humor, and pleasure, so they may truly begin life’s journey.  Although Prometheus encounters punishment and death in both the original myth and the ballet, The Creatures of Prometheus focuses on happiness, human advancement, and the Enlightenment ideal of the power of arts to refine humanity.

The production was such a huge success that it contributed greatly to Beethoven’s emerging reputation as a major artist.  The popularity of his first major theatrical venture led directly to a commission for a full-length opera, Fidelio.  Beethoven also borrowed themes from the ballet for his Eroica symphony.  However, only the Prometheus Overture has remained in modern concert performances.  For a long time, it was the only overture in Beethoven’s repertoire, so his concerts often opened with this piece.  It begins in an unusual manner, with forceful, dissonant chords outside the home key, before journeying to C major through a chain of harmonic progressions.  The brilliant allegro section, which sparkles with energy, often is said to represent Prometheus fleeing from heaven after stealing fire from the gods.

To watch a video of Beethoven's Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, click here.

Petite Suite
Claude Debussy

Born: August 22, 1862, Saint-Germaine-en Laye, near Paris
Died: March 26, 1918, Paris
Orchestrated: Henri Büsser
Composed: for piano four-hands in 1889; orchestrated in 1907
Premiere: Piano four-hands version: Paris, 1 March 1889; private salon
Premiere: Orchestral version: Paris, 4 November 1907
Approximate Duration: 14 minutes
Instrumentation: 2 flutes (one doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (one doubling English horn), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 French horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, percussion (cymbal, suspended cymbal, tambourine, triangle), harp, strings

Early in his compositional life, before developing the Impressionist style that would define his “voice” as a composer, Debussy found inspiration in French Baroque music, particularly the refinement of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s (1683-1764) dance suites.  Debussy completed two four-hand (two players on one piano) piano suites in 1889, the Petite Suite and the Suite Bergamesque, which includes his famous “Claire de Lune.”   Both pieces consist mainly of dance suites, combining the Baroque structure with the colors and harmonies that would come to define Debussy’s work.

Debussy’s Petite Suite is best known today in its orchestral setting by Henri-Paul Büsser.  Büsser was a composer, organist, arranger, and teacher.  Like Debussy, he attended the Paris Conservatoire and received the Prix de Rome.  He had Debussy’s blessing to re-cast the suite in an orchestral setting faithful to Debussy’s color and style.  

Debussy based the first two movements on poems by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) that narrate eighteenth century aristocratic country outings.  “En bateau” (In a boat) opens with a sigh before depicting romantic trysts at dusk on shimmering and gentle water.  This gentle lullaby evokes Verlaine’s poem (translated): “Meanwhile the moon sheds its glow / On the skiff’s brief course below, / Gaily riding the dream-like flow.”   The central section is based on whole tone scales, one of Debussy’s trademarks.  “Cortège” (Procession) begins with a distant procession that grows in volume and complexity as it arrives before listeners.  Verlaine’s poem describes an elegant woman escorted by a uniformed monkey.  The woodwinds are crisp and the percussion is gentle, portraying this playful and mischievous scene.  The Menuet is warm and melodic, a nostalgic courtly dance looking back to Baroque sensibilities  The last movement is an energetic Ballet.  This wasn’t intended to be music for a choreographed nineteenth-century ballet, but recalls the sixteenth century Italian balletti, a dance-like vocal piece intended for personal entertainment.  These were brought to England as balletts and often contained a characteristic wordless “fa-la-la” refrain.  Debussy’s festive movement sometimes sounds like a waltz, but toward the end it gets faster, resembling a sparkling jig.  

To watch a video of Debussy's Petite Suite, click here.

Symphony No. 4 in G Major
Gustav Mahler
Arranged by Klaus Simon

Born: July 7, 1860
Died: May 18, 1911, Vienna 
Composed: 1899-1900
Arranged: 2007
Premiered: November 25, 1901, Munich
Approximate Duration: 54 minutes
Instrumentation (original): 4 flutes (2 doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (one doubling English horn), 2 clarinets, e-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons (one doubling contrabassoon), 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, timpani, percussion (bass drum, cymbals, glockenspiel, sleigh bells, tamtam, triangle), harp, strings, soprano
Instrumentation (arrangement): 1 flute (doubling on piccolo), 1 oboe (doubling on English horn), 1 clarinet (doubling on bass clarinet), 1 bassoon, 1 French horn, percussion (bass drum, cymbals, glockenspiel, sleigh bells, suspended cymbal, tamtam, triangle), piano, harmonium, strings, soprano

“A symphony should be like the world,” Mahler told Jean Sibelius in 1907, “it must contain everything.”  It is this sentiment that set Mahler apart from all previous composers of symphonies and that makes his works such milestones for orchestras and musicians to perform.  He composed on a grand scale, for very large orchestras that often included choirs and solo vocalists, with an unprecedented range of moods and orchestral colors, often stretching the late Romantic harmonies to new places.  Many of his symphonies explore “epic” themes like good and evil, heaven and hell.  However, Mahler also borrowed from “everyday” sounds—bugle calls, bird songs, dance tunes—and quoted his own music as well as that of Weber, Wagner, Liszt, and Berlioz.  No wonder audiences initially had a difficult time appreciating Mahler’s work!

The fourth symphony is Mahler’s “lightest” symphony.  He wrote it during the summers of 1899 and 1900, when he had some freedom from his demanding position as the music director of the Vienna Opera.  Its original version called for a large woodwind section but did not include trombones or tubas.  (By contrast, many of Mahler’s symphonies use double the size of a standard Romantic era brass section).  Mahler found his subject matter in a collection of poetry published a century earlier known as Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth’s Magic Horn).  Mahler set over twelve of these poems to music, either for voice and piano or voice and orchestra, incorporating some of these song settings in his symphonies.  Mahler originally planned on adding a seventh movement to his third symphony, a setting of the song he had written earlier to the Wunderhorn poem “Der Himmel hängt voller Geigen” (Heaven is full of violins).  He changed his mind and decided to use this setting, which he entitled Das himmlische Leben (The heavenly life), as the final movement of his fourth symphony.  In this work, Mahler imagines a child’s view of heaven and earth, perhaps to escape the complexities and existential challenges he faced both in his daily life and in his other compositions.

Mahler uses the standard four movement structure for this symphony.  The first movement is melodic, often punctuated by sleigh bells.  It is charming and graceful, with a joyful and tender mood.  The many changes in tempo and dynamics give it a playful and whimsical quality.  The ominous second movement resembles a scherzo.  It was inspired by a painting by the Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin: Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle (1872).  A  solo violinist leads the orchestra in the dance, but the violin is tuned a step higher than normal, giving it a brighter and slightly pinched sound to resemble a rustic fiddler.  The slow third movement ushers in a calm mood.  Cellos introduce the peaceful main theme which, as in all the movements, is recast in many different forms and transformed by a quickening tempo.  Toward the end, the brightness of a giant E major chord contrasts greatly against a shadowy interpretation of the movement’s main theme.  The last movement begins with a relaxed pace in E major, as foreshadowed in the previous movement.  Here, the soprano soloist gives words to the child’s view of heaven as a place full of playing, dancing, good food, good music, saints, and martyrs.  The text recalls some of the moments and moods heard earlier in the piece.  Mahler orchestrates the poem with color and charm, and the symphony ends peacefully.

Ever since the invention of the symphony and the concerto, these large compositions have frequently been arranged for smaller forces.  Several of the Beethoven piano concertos, for example, were arranged soon after their debuts for string quartet/quintet and soloist.   At a time when recorded music was not available, these reduced instrumentations provided a practical and economical way to perform and enjoy this music in private performances and small spaces.  Similarly, several of Mahler’s symphonies have been arranged for smaller orchestras, enabling groups to perform his works without the massive forces required for most of his symphonies.  There are at least five alternate versions of the fourth symphony.  These arrangements were performed frequently at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when musicians needed to be distanced from one another onstage.  Klaus Simon re-orchestrated this symphony in May 2007 for the Holst Sinfonietta, a chamber orchestra in Freiburg.  He preserved Mahler’s orchestral sound and instrumental colors well, enabling each instrument, and especially the soprano soloist, to participate fully and be heard well.

To watch a video of this version of Mahler's fourth symphony, click here.

Praised for her “radiant and all-encompassing soprano” (Chicago Tribune), Michelle Areyzaga performs a diverse range of orchestral, oratorio, opera, and chamber repertoire. As a “consummate vocal actress” (Fanfare), she is held in high regard throughout the United States and abroad for her “appealing, expressive soprano” (New York Times).

Michelle has appeared as soloist with orchestras and festivals across the country including the Chicago Symphony, Chicago Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony, Colorado Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Wichita Symphony, Flint Symphony, Fort Wayne Symphony, Cheyenne Symphony, Hartford Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Toledo Symphony, Rochester Symphony; the Ravinia, Oregon Bach, Blossom, and Grant Park music festivals.

Abroad, Ms. Areyzaga has performed with the Orquesta Sinfónica de México, Orquesta Filarmónica de Montevideo, and Uruguay’s Orquesta Sinfónica del Sodre. She sang in Costa Rica’s first performance of Bach’s B Minor Mass with the National Symphony Orchestra under conductor John Nelson. She appeared as soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G Minor at England’s York Minster Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, and St. Mary’s Church in Oxford. At Paris’s L’église de la Madeleine, she was soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the orchestra of London’s Royal Academy of Music and the St. Charles Singers.

Michelle has sung leading roles for New York City Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Birmingham, and other regional companies. Some of her favorite roles include Micaela (Carmen), Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Musetta (La Bohème), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) and Cunegonde (Candide). Her staged portrayals have consistently garnered high praise such as “sensational” for her performances of Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi (The Chicago Reader) and “stunning” as Bubikopf in Der Kaiser von Atlantis (Opera Magazine, London).

Highly respected for her work as an avid chamber musician and recitalist, Michelle has been a repeat guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the New York Festival of Song, the Avalon String Quartet, The Lincoln Trio, and has been a member of the Chicago Ensemble since the beginning of her career.

Renowned for her artistry with new music and contemporary composers, Ms. Areyzaga has been honored to perform and record multiple world-premieres for composers Gwyneth Walker, Lita Grier, Stacy Garrop, Fabio Luisi, and Gustavo Leone. Her most recent art song album, Were I With Thee, features all contemporary American art songs with texts by women, including world-premiere recordings of works by Wayland Rogers and Gwyneth Walker. Artsong Update praised Were I With Thee as “one of the finest art song CDs ever… a ground-breaking art song CD of twenty-first century sensibility.”

As a lifelong champion of Leonard Bernstein’s music, Michelle toured Bernstein on Broadway for six years together with Leonard Bernstein’s daughter, Jamie. Ms. Areyzaga was named Musical Ambassador of the Ravinia Festival’s Bernstein at 100 Centennial Celebration.

Ms. Areyzaga is artist faculty at Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and Loyola University Chicago. Michelle is passionate about guiding and inspiring her private voice students through her knowledge of vocal literature, technique, and her training as a life coach.