Love hurts.Byline: Bob Keefer The Register-Guard It's spring, and a young man's fancy "<B>Young Man's Fancy</B>" is an episode of the American television anthology series <em>The Twilight Zone</em>. <H2>Details</H2>*Episode number: 99*Season: 3*Original air date: May 11, 1962*Writer: Richard Matheson*Director: John turns to thoughts of, well, exquisite pain, lingering lin·ger v. lin·gered, lin·ger·ing, lin·gers v.intr. 1. To be slow in leaving, especially out of reluctance; tarry. See Synonyms at stay1. 2. suffering and even death - if you pay much attention to Renaissance love songs. The romantic madrigals people once entertained each other with in 16th century Italy have a curiously dark approach to love, says Diane Retallack, director of the Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble. "People are just dying with love," she says. "The Italians, particularly. You see the word `morte' in there all the time in the love songs." The Vocal Arts Ensemble will be singing Italian madrigals - death imagery and all - along with English madrigals and French chansons Saturday when the group performs its "Renaissance and Romance" concert at the Shedd. The program also includes Johannes Brahms' ``Neue Liebeslieder,'' a collection of songs the composer originally wrote for solo quartet. The works are now generally performed by a full choir, with soloists, which is how the 28-member Vocal Arts Ensemble will do them Saturday. The evening promises a lot of pageantry. The ensemble will perform the first half of the program - those madrigals and other love songs - in full Elizabethan costume. At intermission the singers will change to formal attire for the Brahms works. And if you want to make a night of it, there is probably still time to get in on the $50-a-plate dinner, catered by Marche restaurant, that will be served downstairs at the Shedd. The menu will include such treats as wild mushroom pie, stuffed Cornish game hens and strawberry rhubarb rhubarb: see buckwheat. rhubarb Any of several species of the genus Rheum (family Polygonaceae), especially R. rhaponticum (or R. rhabarbarum), a hardy perennial grown for its large, succulent, edible leafstalks. trifle. Dinnertime entertainment will be provided by Byrdsong Early Music Consort The Early Music Consort of London was founded by Christopher Hogwood and David Munrow in 1967 and disbanded in in 1976 following Munrow's death. It produced many influential collections of early music, typical of which was The Art of the Netherlands issued as a 3-record set in 1976. , an instrumental group. But back to those love songs. Here's the English translation of part of an Italian madrigal madrigal, name for two different forms of Italian music, one related to the poetic madrigal in the 14th cent., the other the most common form of secular vocal music in the 16th cent. titled "Lo Schernito," or "The Rebuffed." If you well see, love of my life, That I languish for your love, Fa la la. You tease tease (tez) to pull apart gently with fine needles to permit microscopic examination. tease v. me and flee me, You sadden sad·den tr. & intr.v. sad·dened, sad·den·ing, sad·dens To make or become sad. sadden Verb to make (someone) sad Verb 1. and undo me, You're the death of me, wicked woman, Fa la la. Love, Retallack notes, wasn't any easier in the Renaissance than it is today, though the Italian madrigals sometimes take suffering less than seriously. "The Italians will even take something like `I am dying of love and my heart is sore,' and add `fa la la' to it,'' she said. ``The English at least save the fa-la-las for `Everything is wonderful, it's spring and you're beautiful.' ' Many of the madrigals were traditionally sung by all-male groups, using men singing in falsetto falsetto (fôlsĕt`tō) [Ital.,=diminutive of false], high-pitched, unnatural tones above the normal register of the male voice, produced, according to some theories, by the vibration of only the edges of the larynx. for the high notes. That means some of the parts have unusual range, since a countertenor countertenor, a male singing voice in the alto range. Singing in this range requires either a special vocal technique called falsetto, or a high extension of the tenor range. singing in falsetto can dip to a lower range than most women altos. That can mean rearranging parts to accommodate modern singing styles in songs that may have as many as eight separate voices. "Sometimes is quite a difficult art to work out who is going to sing what," she said. The second half of the program, the Brahms song collection has a special significance for Retallack and the Vocal Arts Ensemble. The group performed the work at its first concert 20 years ago. The 15 songs are all in German, Retallack notes. ``I love German. That is my favorite My Favorite is an independent synthpop band from Long Island, New York. They released two CDs: Love at Absolute Zero and Happiest Days of Our Lives. My Favorite broke up on September 14, 2005, when singer Andrea Vaughn left the band. language, and I speak it. It is really fun to work with it, because I am working in a foreign language but I also understand more deeply what it is saying.'' CONCERT PREVIEW Renaissance and Romance What: Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble Program: Renaissance madrigals and Brahms' Neue Liebeslieder Where: Jaqua Concert Hall, Shedd Institute, 285 E. Broadway When: 8 p.m. Saturday Tickets: $15 to $28 (682-5000) Pre-show dinner: By reservation, 6 p.m. at the Shedd, $50 each. Call 687-6865 CAPTION(S): Among members of the Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble who will perform this weekend at the Shedd are (from left) Dick Weick, Christina Prier pri·er also pry·er n. One who pries, especially a person who is unduly interested in the affairs of others. Steffy, Rob Huffman and Susan Abraham. |
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