Singing and Theory? Where!?!?

Who said I had to choose between the two? No one in particular… just the programs to which I’m looking to apply. To be more specific, the ol’ grad school application list got shredded when I considered what non-performance-based classes were offered at each institution. Get this: At every single conservatory to which I was going to apply–Juilliard, Manhattan, New England Conservatory, and the list goes on–a singer cannot register for language classes beyond first year. Another way to look at it? Singers should not actually know what they’re doing.

I will be the first to admit that I am not a perfect, academically overachieving singer in the usual respect. In fact, there are many occasions when I would qualify as a bad or lazy singer. I haven’t done word for word translations and  I haven’t cared enough about what the text said to even google a poetic translation. See? Bad singer. Tsk, tsk, tsk!

Then again, I’m not in such bad company for doing so. Schoenberg didn’t either. Bad schoenberg!

Ich war vor ein paar Jahren tief beschämt, als ich entdeckte, daß ich bei einigen mir wohlbekannten Schubert-Liedern gar keine Ahnung davon hatte, was in dem zugrunde liegenden Gedicht eigentlich vorgehe. Als ich aber dann die Gedichte gelesen hatte, stellte sich für mich heraus, daß ich dadurch für das Verständnis dieser Lieder gar nichts gewonnen hatte, da ich nicht im geringsten durch sie genötigt war, meine Auffassung des musikalischen Vortrags zu ändern. Im Gegenteil: es zeigte sich mir, daß ich, ohne das Gedicht zu kennen, den Inhalt, den wirklichen Inhalt, sogar vielleicht tiefer erfaßt hatte, als wenn ich an der Oberfläche der eigentlichen Wortgedanken haften geblieben wäre. Noch entscheidender als dieses Erlebnis war mir die Tatsache, daß ich viele meiner Lieder, berauscht von dem Anfangsklang der ersten Textworte, ohne mich auch nur im geringsten um den weiteren Verlauf der poetischen Vorgänge zu kümmern, ja ohne diese im Taumel des Komponierens auch nur im geringsten zu erfassen, zu Ende geschrieben und erst nach Tagen darauf kam, nachzusehen, was denn eigentlich der poetische Inhalt meines Liedes sei. Wobei sich dann zu meinem größten Erstaunen herausstellte, daß ich niemals dem Dichter voller gerecht worden bin, als wenn ich, geführt von der ersten unmittelbaren Berührung mit dem Anfangsklang, alles erriet, was diesem Anfangsklang eben offenbar mit Notwendigkeit folgen mußte.

Preach it.

Conclusion: It is entirely possible to understand the text through the musical expression of it, maybe even better. Who knows. If Schoenberg was doing it… well, then, I’m a lemming.

Convocation Speech

Given at Convocation for the  opening of the Fall semester at New England Conservatory on September 3,2009 in Jordan Hall. My cohort in crime was my ever-lovely, provocative, hairy, and insightful best friend, Brandon Cordeiro. Incidently, he’s looking for a husband and soul-mate. Know anyone? We gots to hook a brother up!! 

Without further ado… 

+++

 

Ceceilia: Well, where did we leave off last time?? Oh, right, WELCOME TO COLLEGE! You made it. You’re here. You’ve been oriented to this huge campus, an overwhelming class size, and that behemoth of a football stadium looming a mile away from your dorm. All of you, new and returning, know the buildings, your agenda is in your hand and you’ve staked out the practice rooms with air-conditioning. Now that you know this campus inside and out, ask yourself… does this campus know me? Do I know me? What does that even mean?

Program Notes for Ravel’s “L’Enfant et les Sortilege”

Written for a performance by New England Conservatory’s Undergraduate Opera Studio on March 3 & 4, 2009, 8pm, Brown Hall.

Full Disclosure: I sang Fire/Nightingale.

+++

L’Enfant et les Sortileges by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) and libretto written by poet Colette premiered in 1926 at the Monte Carlo Opera under the baton of Victor de Sabata with choreography from a very young Balanchine.  Ravel began composing the opera soon after he received the libretto from Colette in 1918. The public favorably received the opera, and it was soon being performed to packed houses in Paris, London and much of Europe. However, the opera did not receive its American debut until 1981 at the Metropolitan Opera. L’Enfant et les Sortileges counts itself among Ravel’s post-war works that emphasize bolder harmonic formulation, exoticism of the natural world, and fantasy.

 

At first glance, the opera divides into two scenes, one in the child’s room with furniture and the second in the garden outside the house with forest creatures, but Ravel’s musical structure does not rest on theatrical conventions. The piece opens with what appears to be directionless undulations outlining a pentatonic scale in 4ths and 5ths, and Ravel gives the passage structure by reiterating portions at the entrance of the child and at the mother’s entrance. Similarly, Ravel reiterates moments of tonality throughout the opera in order to show changes in the child’s character from rage to compassion and remorse. The child’s monologue in E flat major following his encounter with the princess—in sharp contrast with strong preceding passages of bitonality and modalism—begins to show a tender interiority in the child as he laments that he cannot defend the princess against the forces of darkness. Moreover, as the child cries “Mama!” before the final ensemble on a descending 4^th, the animals crudely imitate this interval, first introduced in the undulating, opening prelude and strategically strewn throughout the opera. Finally, the child and the animals find common ground in a stable, hymn-like, G major fugue.

Henceforth

I’ve decided to keep up this blog, turning it into a space to document my volunteering, school, professional, etc. activities. There might even be a twinge of over-confessional blogging mixed in, but I’ll try to keep it to a minimum… emphasis on “try”.

Still enamoured…

And looking for jobs in Holland.

Translation for article in La Tribune de Geneve

Courtesy of my dear friend Emily, here is a translation of the article about me that appeared in La Tribune de Geneve on August 5, 2008. A few clarifications (e.g. implications, misquotations) are listed below the article. Enjoy!

+++

The Tourists of the Hostel:

A Trip in Europe, Over the Course of Vocalises

Written by Henri Della Cassa for La Tribune de Geneve

Published August 5, 2008

Translated by Emily Markoe

Photo Caption 1: Ceceilia Allwein. The young American goes wherever the music is good.

Photo Caption 2: “I’ve found the people of Geneva very open.”

Article:

More and more young tourists prefer the banks of Lake Geneva to fine-sanded beaches. Who are they?

Fall, 2008

These are my volunteering, community service, and campus involvement goals for the Fall, 2008 semester:

• Develop, get approved and begin to implement a plan for a peer counseling program at NEC
• Help lead the Queer Performing Arts Alliance through its transition into the Performing Artists’ Alliance (more to come on this exciting development!)
• Volunteer for EMA Fund
• Participate in the Point Foundation’s Annual Boston Fundraiser

Landed

I am back in Boston…. and have been since the 15th. It’s time for fall Residence Life training, so I’ve been a bit MIA. However, there have been updates:

The photos are now organized into albums and collections according to countries, subject matter, cities/regions and attractions.

Also, since being in the US I’ve met folk from all over due to the fact that I travelled this summer. Factoid: Luxembourgish is an entirely separate language. Another interesting realization was that American ex-pats have just as much exotic appeal as true foreigners, even when they return to the US, even when we only speak Amerian English. Hmmm….

La Tribune de Geneve

Here’s the link to the article in La Tribune de Geneve. A friend is doing a translation into English for me, and I’ll put that up when it’s done.

The article is really well done, although he misquoted me on the last sentence by leaving out my negative. I actually don’t see myself staying in the US in the future… if only just for a while.  

The web page also doesn’t list the name of the reporter. For the record, his name is Henri Della Casa.

Enjoy!

Photos… finally!

Click on the link to my Flickr album in the sidebar. Right now they’re not organized into albums, annoted, rotated, edited, etc., but they will be shortly. (Famous last words, eh?)

Back in the states in 3… 2… 1…