“Mahler’s Liederabend”
Saturday, May 20, 2023 | 7:30 PM | $5-55
Re-creation of January 29, 1905 Concert in Vienna
Macky Auditorium, 1595 Pleasant Street, Boulder

Gustav Anderassen, bass

• MAHLER Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth’s Magic Horn), Selections
  Lied des Verfolgten im Turm (Song of the Persecuted in the Tower)
  Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt (St. Anthony of Padua’s Sermon to the Fish)
  Trost im Unglück (Solace in Misfortune)
  Rheinlegendchen (Little Rhine Legend)
  Der Schildwache Nachtlied (The Sentinel’s Nightsong)
  Der Tamboursg’sell (The Drummer Boy)
  Revelge (Reveille)
• MAHLER Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children)
  Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n (Now will the Sun Rise Again Brightly)
  Nun seh’ ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen (Now I See why Such Dark Flames)
  Wenn dein Mütterlein (When Your Darling Mother)
  Oft denk’ ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen (I often Think That They Have Just Stepped Out)
  In diesem Wetter (In this Storm) 
• MAHLER Rückert-lieder (Songs after Rückert)
  Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder! (Don’t Look at Me When I’m Writing Songs)
  Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft (I breathed the Scent of Linden)
  Um Mitternacht (At Midnight)
  Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (I Have Become Lost to the World)

Kenneth Woods, conductor
Gustav Andreassen, bass
April Fredrick, soprano
Brennen Guillory, tenor
Stacey Rishoi, mezzo-soprano
Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra

Original 1905 Program

Mahler conducted the Vienna State Opera Orchestra at the Musikverein in this extraordinary concert that featured the premiere of his song cycles Kindertotenlieder and Rückert-lieder along with the premiere of some of the songs of the Des Knaben Wunderhorn collection. The MahlerFest Orchestra will re-create this performance with a medium-sized orchestra in Mahler’s original orchestrations.

The Des Knaben Wunderhorn songs use texts from a collection of German folks poems with the same name. In total, there are 12 orchestral songs and a smilar number for voice and piano. Mahler published ten of the songs as a cycle in 1095. Symposium Speaker Renate Stark-Voit, who edited the critical edition of the Second Symphony, worked with Thomas Hampson to publish Mahler’s original piano versions in 1993. See notes written by Stark-Voit here.

Kindertotenlieder was originally a collection of 428 poems written by Freidrich Rückert in 1833-34 as his way of coping with the death of two of his children. Mahler selected five of these and set them to music between 1901 and 1905.

The five Rückert poems that become the collection Rückert-lieder were originally published as Seven Songs of Latter Days. The first four were premiered with the rest of the songs on this program. A fifth, “Lovest thou but beauty,” was not orchestrated by Mahler. The set was not intended as a cycle, each song originally published independently of the others.

What to Expect

Macky Auditorium is a very cool building. Its history begins with Andrew J. Macky, a Boulder pioneer, gold rush settler, carpenter, and founding director of the First National Bank of Boulder. A primary figure in Boulder’s history until his death in 1907, Macky bequeathed $300,000 to the University for an auditorium. It took 13 years to build, delayed due to legal issues, and was completed in 1922. Since then, it has been home to everything from commencement ceremonies to the Conference on World Affairs and music from the Boulder Philharmonic and Yo-Yo Ma to Chick Corea and Trey Anastasio.

Parking can be difficult so we’ll let the Unviversity tell you about it here: https://www.colorado.edu/macky/your-visit/parking.

Unless you approach it from the quad, you will most likely walk up the hill from the back side. You will need to walk around the front to the rather grand entrance. There is a small outer lobby where you can purchase tickets if you still need them. The inner lobby is warm and spacious and opens into the main hall which is large and beautiful. It’s truly a magnificent place to see and hear a concert.

For this performance, which features a smaller orchestra than will be on stage for the symphony, there will be no seating in the balcony.

Feel to dress up or attend in casual attire.