German Lied Repertoire Recital

This master class in German Lied repertoire was Programme V of the Rudolf Kempe Society’s 2016 Songs of Apollo season, part of its Celebration of Young Voices master class series. Over four days, 11–14 August 2016, three young singers and two pianists worked with the soprano Joan Rodgers CBE, the pianist Gary Matthewman and Cordula Kempe as language coach at the Kempe Studio at The Muses, 58 Waterside, Stratford-upon-Avon. The course was open to listeners on Saturday 13 August and on the Sunday morning, and ended with a Lieder recital by the participants on Sunday 14 August at 6.00 pm. It was given in aid of the Rudolf Kempe Society International Young Artists Platform.

Teachers

• Joan Rodgers CBE – soprano. One of Britain’s best-loved singers in opera, concert and recital, she sang under conductors from Solti and Barenboim to Rattle and Mackerras, recorded the three Mozart–Da Ponte operas with Barenboim and the Berlin Philharmonic, and won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Singer of the Year award and an Evening Standard award in 1997. She was appointed CBE in 2001 and gave master classes for the Samling Foundation, the Bolshoi Young Artist Programme and the London conservatoires.
• Gary Matthewman – piano. An alumnus of the Society, for which he played chamber music with Cordula Kempe in 2003, he became one of the UK’s leading song pianists, partnering singers such as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Thomas Allen and Mark Padmore at Carnegie Hall, the Musikverein and Wigmore Hall. His Winterreise with Matthew Rose was Gramophone’s Recording of the Month; he was Professor of Vocal Repertoire at the Royal College of Music and song coach to the Jette Parker Young Artists at the Royal Opera House.
• Cordula Kempe – musician and language coach. A violinist trained in Munich and with Max Rostal, Artistic Director of the Society and deviser of its word and music programmes, she grew up with Lieder in her family and began coaching singers while teaching at the Richard Strauss Conservatoire in Munich.

Participants

• Mimi Doulton – soprano. A first-class music graduate of King’s College London studying at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, who had sung Judith Weir’s King Harald’s Saga at Wigmore Hall and taken part in Royal Opera development workshops.
• Caroline Daggett – mezzo-soprano. A first-class graduate of the Royal College of Music who had just won a place on English National Opera’s Opera Works scheme.
• Michael Lafferty – baritone. A Trinity Laban undergraduate from Southend, winner of the Lillian Ash French Song Prize and a choral scholar at St Martin-in-the-Fields.
• Mairi Grewar – piano. A collaborative pianist from St Andrews who had completed the Guildhall Artist Master’s course and was going on to the Master of Performance.
• Aaron Lott – piano. An American accompanist from Iowa who had completed the Master of Performance in Piano Accompaniment at the Royal College of Music with Simon Lepper.

Programme

Schedule

• Thursday 11 – Sunday 14 August – master class in German Lied repertoire
• Saturday 13 August – open workshop sessions at 11.00 am and 3.00 pm
• Sunday 14 August – open session at 11.00 am, then the Lieder recital at 6.00 pm

Repertoire

Mimi Doulton, with Mairi Grewar

• Robert Schumann – from Liederkreis, Op. 39 (Eichendorff, 1840): Intermezzo, Waldesgespräch, Die Stille, Zwielicht, Frühlingsnacht
• Johannes Brahms – Von waldbekränzter Höhe, Op. 57 No. 1 (Daumer); Feldeinsamkeit, Op. 86 No. 2 (Allmers); Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer, Op. 105 No. 2 (Lingg); Auf dem See, Op. 59 No. 2 (Simrock); Meine Lieder, Op. 106 No. 4 (Frey)

Caroline Daggett, with Aaron Lott and Mairi Grewar

• Robert Schumann – Mein schöner Stern!, Op. 101 No. 4 (Rückert); Requiem, Op. 90 No. 7 (old Catholic poem); Die Kartenlegerin, Op. 31 No. 2 (Chamisso after Béranger)
• Johannes Brahms – Wir wandelten, Op. 96 No. 2 (Daumer); An die Nachtigall, Op. 46 No. 4 (Hölty); Ständchen, Op. 106 No. 1 (Kugler); Feldeinsamkeit, Op. 86 No. 2 (Allmers)
• Richard Strauss (with Mairi Grewar) – Ich trage meine Minne, Op. 32 No. 1 (Henckel); Meinem Kinde, Op. 37 No. 3 (Falke); Hat gesagt – bleibt’s nicht dabei, Op. 36 No. 3 (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)

Michael Lafferty, with Aaron Lott

• Franz Schubert – Liebesbotschaft from Schwanengesang, D 957 (Rellstab); An die Laute, D 905 (Rochlitz)
• Robert Schumann – from Dichterliebe, Op. 48: Aus meinen Tränen sprießen, Ich will meine Seele tauchen, Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen (Heine); Belsatzar, Op. 57 (Heine)
• Johannes Brahms – Vier ernste Gesänge, Op. 121 (Luther’s Bible): Denn es gehet dem Menschen, Ich wandte mich, O Tod, wie bitter bist du, Wenn ich mit Menschen- und mit Engelszungen redete

About the programme

The singers chose their own repertoire, from the Lieder of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Richard Strauss. In her introduction, German Romantic Songs, Cordula Kempe wrote that the Lied, whatever its language, is about human love – for other people or for nature – and so is “almost by definition, thoroughly romantic”. Far from an ivory tower, she argued, the Romantics opened an inner world of spirit that can heal, and the songs on the course spanned “love – loss – grief – joy – horror – compassion – and even sense of humour”. The programme book closed with lines from Hazell Hills’s poem Roundelay, written for Rudolf Kempe’s resting place in the garden of The Muses.

See also Master Classes.

Credits

• Teachers: Joan Rodgers CBE, Gary Matthewman, Cordula Kempe (language coach)
• Printing, publicity and recording: Max Ross