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Cecile Cooper newspaper clippings, 1966-1987

1984-02-02 ""Classical: Three Soloists to sing with symphony""

Thursday, February 2, 1984
Houston Chronicle
Weekend Preview--Page 3

[[Photo captions]]
Katherine Ciesinski
Kenneth Riegel
Simon Estes
[[end captions]]

Ailey
Deailey[[?]] SP
U38137
657106

Classical:

Three soloists to sing with symphony

ONE OF the biggest events of the symphonic season comes this weekend when the Houston Symphony presents Berlioz's massive vocal work [[italics]]The Damnation of Faust[[end italics]].

Music director Sergiu Comissiona has invited three distinguished soloists to join the Houston Symphony chorale in singing the work based on Goethe's [[italics]]Faust[[end italics]]. Mezzo-soprano Catherine Ciesinski, who made her HSO debut last season in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, will be Marguerite. Metropolitan Opera tenor Kenneth Riegel will be Faust, the role he sang in 1976 in the last HSO performances of the work. Bass-baritone Simon Estes -- who has sung over 90 roles in such opera houses as the Metropolitan, La Scala and those of Hamburg, Vienna, Peris, Munich, Chicago and San Francisco -- will be Mephistopheles. Bass-baritone Jon Opalach will make his HSO debut in the role of Brander.

This "dramatic legend in four parts," as the subtitle reads, was not the first work Berlioz composed on [[italics]]Faust[[end italics]], the drama that fired the imagination of 19th-century composers like no other piece of literature. In 1828, at age 24, Berlioz had discovered the work and soon composed [[italics]]Eight Scenes of Faust[[end italics]], which e published the following year as his Op. 1. Yet, the work was soon withdrawn as many copies of the score as possible were destroyed. Not until 1944 did he think of returning to the story of the man who sells his soul to rescue his love, Marguerite. Soon, Berlioz was working on the dramatic legend and composed much of it during a concert tour of Europe. For instance, [[italics]]The Invocation to Nature[[end italics]] in Part IV was sketched "as I bowled along in my old German post-chaise," he wrote about the process, and steamships, trains and country inns were all places where Berlioz wrote.

The piece was finished in Paris in 1846 and premiered on Dec. 6 of that year. But, it was not a success. The musical and political climates of Paris had changed and people were not interested in the work. It was presented extensively throughout Europe as Berlioz traveled to conduct his own music, but not until 1876 was the piece accepted in Paris as the masterpiece it is.
Some of Berlioz's most popular orchestral music is part of the score -- the [[italics]]Hungarian[[end italics]], or [[italics]]Rakoczy[[end italics]] March from Part 1, the [[italics]]Dance of the Sylphs[[end italics]] from Part II and the [[italics]]Minuet of the Will-o'-the-Wisps[[end italics]] from Part III. Indeed, the work is infused with some of the composer's most brilliant and inventive orchestral writing, particularly during his descriptions of the glories of nature. yet that writing only serves to magnify the drama told in the 20 scenes and four parts. The libretto, written by Berlioz and two other French writers, captures the spirit of the Goethe text. The story is abridged and changed for Berlioz's purposes which lead to a work focused on Faust as a young, idealistic student overwhelmed by the gigantic scope of nature.
Performances of the work are set for 8 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday and 8 p.m. Monday in Jones Hall. Tickets are available at the Houston Ticket Center in Jones Hall (227-ARTS) and all Ticketron outlets including Joske's stores.
-CHARLES WARD

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Thursday, February 2, 1984 Houston Chronicle Weekend Preview--Page 3 [[Photo captions]] Katherine Ciesinski Kenneth Riegel Simon Estes [[end captions]] Ailey Deailey[[?]] SP U38137 657106 Classical: Three soloists to sing with symphony ONE OF the biggest events of the symphonic season comes this weekend when the Houston Symphony presents Berlioz's massive vocal work [[italics]]The Damnation of Faust[[end italics]]. Music director Sergiu Comissiona has invited three distinguished soloists to join the Houston Symphony chorale in singing the work based on Goethe's [[italics]]Faust[[end italics]]. Mezzo-soprano Catherine Ciesinski, who made her HSO debut last season in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, will be Marguerite. Metropolitan Opera tenor Kenneth Riegel will be Faust, the role he sang in 1976 in the last HSO performances of the work. Bass-baritone Simon Estes -- who has sung over 90 roles in such opera houses as the Metropolitan, La Scala and those of Hamburg, Vienna, Peris, Munich, Chicago and San Francisco -- will be Mephistopheles. Bass-baritone Jon Opalach will make his HSO debut in the role of Brander. This "dramatic legend in four parts," as the subtitle reads, was not the first work Berlioz composed on [[italics]]Faust[[end italics]], the drama that fired the imagination of 19th-century composers like no other piece of literature. In 1828, at age 24, Berlioz had discovered the work and soon composed [[italics]]Eight Scenes of Faust[[end italics]], which e published the following year as his Op. 1. Yet, the work was soon withdrawn as many copies of the score as possible were destroyed. Not until 1944 did he think of returning to the story of the man who sells his soul to rescue his love, Marguerite. Soon, Berlioz was working on the dramatic legend and composed much of it during a concert tour of Europe. For instance, [[italics]]The Invocation to Nature[[end italics]] in Part IV was sketched "as I bowled along in my old German post-chaise," he wrote about the process, and steamships, trains and country inns were all places where Berlioz wrote. The piece was finished in Paris in 1846 and premiered on Dec. 6 of that year. But, it was not a success. The musical and political climates of Paris had changed and people were not interested in the work. It was presented extensively throughout Europe as Berlioz traveled to conduct his own music, but not until 1876 was the piece accepted in Paris as the masterpiece it is. Some of Berlioz's most popular orchestral music is part of the score -- the [[italics]]Hungarian[[end italics]], or [[italics]]Rakoczy[[end italics]] March from Part 1, the [[italics]]Dance of the Sylphs[[end italics]] from Part II and the [[italics]]Minuet of the Will-o'-the-Wisps[[end italics]] from Part III. Indeed, the work is infused with some of the composer's most brilliant and inventive orchestral writing, particularly during his descriptions of the glories of nature. yet that writing only serves to magnify the drama told in the 20 scenes and four parts. The libretto, written by Berlioz and two other French writers, captures the spirit of the Goethe text. The story is abridged and changed for Berlioz's purposes which lead to a work focused on Faust as a young, idealistic student overwhelmed by the gigantic scope of nature. Performances of the work are set for 8 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday and 8 p.m. Monday in Jones Hall. Tickets are available at the Houston Ticket Center in Jones Hall (227-ARTS) and all Ticketron outlets including Joske's stores. -CHARLES WARD