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SATURDEE OPRY LINKS 60:
Hvorostovsky Memorial
From tough kid to gang member to alcoholic
to. . .great father, revered baritone.
Saturdee Opry Links Overture!
"The Force of Destiny," by Verdi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vluWPtbWU6Q
1.
Saturdee Opry Links is/are dedicated to the late Dmitri Hvorostovksy. The family
asks that donations be made in his memory to cancer research:
https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/dmitri-hvorostovsky
Here is the great baritone with Renee Fleming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iZHwbxLBO0
Don Giovanni (a profligate nobleman) and Zerlina (a peasant girl, Masetto's
fiancee.)
Synopsis : Don Giovanni attempts to seduce the peasant girl Zerlina. Zerlina
almost capitulates but is prevented from going off with him by Donna Elvira, who
has already fallen to the wiles of Giovanni.
Translation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A0_ci_darem_la_mano
2.
Hvorostovsky in a light moment. . .Here is "L'Heure Exquise," also known as "Lippen Schweigen," from Lehar's
operetta, "The Merry Widow." Hvorostovksy and Elina Garanca.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmpBCyxQ0Bs
Translation:
Danilo:
Lips fall silent, whispering are violins
Love me!
All the steps say please, love me!
Every press of the hands
Clearly described it to me
He said clearly, it's true, it's true
You love me!
Hanna:
At each step of the waltz
The soul will dance along
Then hops my little heart
It knocks and pounds: Be mine! Be mine!
And my mouth, it speaks not a word,
Still it sounds on and continuously on:
"I do love you so, I love you!"
Every press of the hands
Clearly described it to me
he says clearly, it's true, it's true,
You love me!
EXTRA:
Fred Plotkin in a great, funny interview with Hvorostovksy:
http://www.wqxr.org/story/remembering-dmitri-hvorostovsky/
3.
From Gounod's "Faust," a noble aria of duty and compassion.
"Avant de quitter ces lieux". . ."Before leaving this place." The late Dmitri
Hvorostovksy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz74ej1YRcM
Synopsis: Valentin has been called off to war. He is not worried about what will
happen to him because of the sacred medallion that he has been given. He is,
however, worried because there will no one protect his sister while he is gone.
He asks God to take care of her while he fights. He declares that he shall fight
valiantly for his country and if he dies, he prays that he will be allowed to
watch over his sister from Heaven.
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=371
4.
From Hvorostovky's NYT obit:
An only child, Mr. Hvorostovsky lived mostly with his maternal grandmother, whom
he adored, and his volatile step-grandfather, a broken-down war hero, whom Mr.
Hvorostovsky described in 2003 in a profile in The New Yorker as “vain, arrogant
and deeply alcoholic.”He remained devoted to his father, an engineer, and his
mother, a gynecologist. But they both had time-consuming work schedules, and he
saw them only on weekends. That he showed musical talent, at first on the piano,
delighted his father, who had wanted to be a musician but had been forced into
engineering school by his own father, a Communist die-hard. He arranged for his
son to attend music school in the afternoons and evenings. . .
Here is the young baritone with "Largo Al Factotum" from "The Barber of Seville"
by Rossini. Figaro essentially does a Trump impression, bragging of his
greatness, but, unlike Trump, does it with poetry and charm.
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eC89eg3CY0
5.
From Hvorostovksy's NYT obit:
Dmitri, at 14, fell in with street gangs, started drinking vodka, got into
brawls and broke his nose several times. Still, he finished high school, and at
16 he was given a new direction when his father enrolled him in a vocational
school for choral conductors.That led to his entering the conservatory in
Krasnoyarsk, where he studied with Ekaterina Yoffel, whom Mr. Hvorostovsky
remembered as “powerful, possessive, tough, cynical and very honest.” She taught
him breath control, and his excellence at sustaining long phrases on a single
breath would later be envied by colleagues. He was given a government apartment
while still a student. Soviet music schools at the time paid scant attention to
the Italian tradition of bel canto singing, which cultivated evenness through
the range, smooth phrasing and the ability to embellish vocal lines with
ornamentation. Mr. Hvorostovsky learned this heritage on his own by listening to
classic recordings.
Here is the result of listening to those records, at least in part. Hvorostovsky
with one of the greatest of Verdi melodies, whether for baritone or any other
voice. "Di Provenza il mar il suo," from "La Traviata."
Synopsis:
Synopsis : Alfredo's father has convinced Violetta that it is better for
everyone if she leaves Alfredo. She begs him to love her and then sneaks out of
the house. Later, a servant brings him her farewell letter and he rushes off to
find her. Giorgio stops him though and sings this aria to remind him of their
home in Provence and to ask him to return with him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yro3ZSUkoPs
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/translations/traviata04_provenza.txt
6.
And another light moment. "Simple Song," a Russian fave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hJ1wMm6h_g
Translation:
http://lyricstranslate.com/en/%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%8F-%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BD%D1%8F-simple-song.html
7.
Ann Midgette in the Washington Post wrote of Hvorostovsky:
He wasn’t a showman, though. I used to wish he would stop “covering” his sound
quite so much — singing with rounded, deep beauty, but not adding the extra
“ping” for the sake of selling the sound to the audience. He was too elegant a
singer, though, to sacrifice beauty for effect.
An aria well suited to that elegance is, of course, "Il Balen del suo Sorriso,"
from Verdi's "Il Trovatore."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHhwOByP81I
Setting: The convent near Castellor, 1409.
Synopsis: Leonora has decided to enter a convent after hearing that her love
Manrico has died in battle. The Count of Luna also loves her, though, and
decides that if he steals her away from the convent, then she will love him. In
this aria, he confesses his love of Leonora to the world.
Translation:
http://www.aria-database.com/search.php?individualAria=511
8.
Hvorostovksy with a moody love song by Rachmaninov, "In the Silence of the
Night."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE0GoZVrGBY
Translation:
http://www.singrussian.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Rachmaninov-In-the-Silence-of-the-Night.pdf
9.
Ann Midgette in the Washington Post:
"In a field rife with gossip, Hvorostovsky — after he stopped drinking in 2001 —
was known as a good colleague and a good family man, radiantly happy with his
second wife, Florence, and their two children, Nina and Maxim. (He also had
twins from his first marriage, Daniel and Alexandra.)"
A song by Tchaikovsky, "Why?" from a poem by Heinrich Heine.
"Why are the roses so pale?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=203&v=sF3dhD2AfK0
Translation:
http://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=7781
FINAL BOW:
From the NYT obit:
In recent years, Mr. Hvorostovsky felt an increasing attachment to his homeland.
In his interview with The New Yorker, he recalled a concert he gave at 22 with
fellow singers and instrumentalists in a bread factory in central Siberia in
below-freezing weather. The audience, wearing fur hats and warm boots, was
overcome.Those tears, Mr. Hvorostovsky said, “were more precious to me than all
the applause I could ever get again.”
Here is the Russian folk song, "Farewell Happiness."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpG20Y4gqzw
Farewell, happiness, my life,
I know you go around without me
It means we must part;
I won't see you any more
Dark little night!
Ah, there's no sleeping!
I myself don't know why
You, dear little girl, ...
ou alone disturb me,
You alone decided my peace. (refrain; Dark etc)
Remember, remember that May day,
My dear one and I went to swim.
We sat on the sand,
On the yellow, the soft sand.
Saturdee Opry Links Hvorostovsky Tribute Encore.
"Moscow Nights," with Anna Netrebko.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to Cancer
Research UK: bit.ly/DHVCancerResearch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5SlUmCdXf0
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