LILAC WINE (Performance)

Daniel Anthony Iammatteo, Tenor

featuring:

Dr. Steven McGhee, Piano

Hannah Baiardi, Piano & Vocals

also premiering Lilac Wine, a short film by:

Daniel Anthony & Megan Wheeler

production team:

Daniel Braunstein, Sound Design

Devon Sparks, Lighting Design

Katrina Fasulo, Stage Manager

Rehanna Thelwell, Hair & Make-up

Carmen Flesher, Stage Crew

Colter Schoenfish, Stage Directing Consultant

Emily Logie, Visual Art

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This project was supported in part through the School of Music, Theatre & Dance EXCEL Enterprise Fund, and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

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Sonnet XXX, from Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo (1940) Benjamin Britten

(1913-1976)

Lilac Wine: “Discovery”

Der Einsame (1825) Franz Schubert

Abendstern (1824) (1797-1828)

Ganymed (1817)

Lilac Wine: “Celebration”

C’est l’extase langoureuse, from Ariettes oubliées (1885) Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

C’est ainsi que tu es, from Métamorphoses (1943) Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)

Le colibri (1880) Ernest Chausson (1855-1899)

Lilac Wine: “Conflict”

Love at the Door (1934) Samuel Barber

In the Dark Pinewood (1937) (1910-1981)

Nocturne (1940)

Lilac Wine: “Acceptance”

Normal Song (2012) Perfume Genius

Hood (2012)

Secret Love (1953) Sammy Fain

Lilac Wine (1950) James Shelton

Hannah Baiardi, Piano & Vocals

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Rather than referring to an actual beverage, “lilac wine” is idea constructed to reflect the theme of this program. Lilac blooms are known for their intoxicating scent, the color lilac for its delicate hue, and both capture the essence of “queerdom,” the state of being queer. Pairing it with “wine” introduces the idea that this essence can be consumed: an idea at the heart of what it means to embrace a queer identity.

Queer people (“queer” used here to reference all LGBTQ+ persons) are a unique minority because of the potential invisibility of our community. In other words, queer people can be born and raised by people who are not only unlike them, but, in many cases, do not even understand them. While this program does not attempt to reconcile this isolating issue, its goal is to delve into the experience of forging identity as a queer person.

In truth sexuality is only one aspect of identity, but for queer people it is particularly potent, much like the lilac. The purpose of this program is to craft a narrative through this journey of identity formation about personal discoveries of sexuality. To this end, I’ve divided the program into four main sections, each a common stage for queer people during their process of identity development: Discovery, Celebration, Conflict, and Acceptance. In this performance, the goal of each musical set is to explore its corresponding theme, with the intermittent use of film serving to contextualize the music within one continuous queer narrative.

It will be interesting to note that nearly every song on the program had its music or text written by a queer artist, and in some cases, both were.

I would like to emphasize that this program functions as an artistic exploration of queer identification. While I hope that the program will enlighten, inspire and illicit compassion from you, I do not intend for it to function as the primary lens in which to view queer identity. Everyone has their own way of expressing themselves and their journey. This project is mine, based on what I have learned to this point in my life.

Please use the following program notes to help guide you through this queer experience. Thank you for your attendance, and for your willingness to come with me as we explore this narrative.

Daniel

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Introduction

I’ve decided to introduce the idea of queer identity through this song because it not only expresses the idea of passionate yearning, but it does this in an unabashedly queer way.

The following love poem by Michelangelo was written for one of the male lovers he had throughout his life. It is his eighty-ninth of such love poems, as anthologized in Rime which includes over three-hundred love poems. Some five-hundred years later, Britten, one of the most famous composers of the last century, chose this as one of the seven love songs he set to music for his life partner and musical collaborator, the tenor Peter Pears. Simply put: a queer poem, written by a queer poet for his queer lover, was set to music by a queer composer for his queer singer-lover.

This intergenerational queer heritage invites us to connect with queer love that was conceived in a time so distant from our own. I think this is a testament to the universal human condition of queer identity; it isn’t a twenty-first century construct, people have always been this way, traveling this journey. Translation.

Discovery

For every queer person the path to understanding and accepting themselves as queer starts with a discovery. For many, this period of time is justifiably confusing and isolating. To be queer is to be different, and our differences have a way of being used against us.

This musical set explores discovery in three songs. “Der Einsame” sets up a simple scene: a person at home alone. While most of the song is upbeat and “so at ease,” there is an almost palpable willing ignorance in the poetry, with its lackadaisical attitude. In the last stanza we find this thought-provoking line, referring, supposedly, to crickets: “you bother me not, when your song breaks the silence, then I am no longer entirely alone.”

From this solitude we to a desperate loneliness in “Abendstern.” The speaker in this poem finds themself in a state where they cannot yet admit their own loneliness to themselves. Instead, they confess it to a lone star in the night sky, knowing its worth (“…who could resist you”) but afraid to do anything about it (“…in silent sorrow I stay at home”).

Discovery is perhaps most apparent in “Ganymed” a poem about the Greek myth of a boy who was so adored by Zeus that he was brought up to the heavens to be the cupbearer for the gods. The poetry, alluding to sexual deliverance, aptly has the narrator use nature to represent a first sexual experience. Ass a discovery, this idea is similar to the liberation and honest realization of who you are. Translation 1. Translation 2. Translation 3.

Celebration

While what comes after discovering your “queerness” can be idiosyncratic and largely influenced by environment and circumstance, I choose to call this: “celebration.” This is different from a party or parade, as it need not be shared with anyone else. Rather, it is the period of time when a queer person becomes comfortable in their identity, relishing their newly discovered self.

I decided on the following French songs to venture through this theme because of their unabashed sexuality and indulgent sensuality. In “C’est l’extase langoureuse” the narrator dives into this theme in an unexpected way, they find ecstasy in stillness. “C’est ainsi que tu es” puts into words the notion of intimacy, and while a literal translation suggests this is a song to a beloved, I interpret this as intimate knowledge of oneself.

The last song of this set explores the idea of “celebration” through the tale of a hummingbird who drinks the nectar from a flower so quickly that he dies. While this song was not written or composed by queer artists, this can be seen as a metaphor for what happens to some queer people. So often we are punished and judged for celebrating who we are; in our country today we witness this in politics, religion, and some schools. Throughout history, queer people, and people of every minority for that matter, have been victims of hate speech and violence, and, like the hummingbird, for many this violence results in their death. For queer people, celebrating their identity sometimes comes with a cost—cross dress and you risk being stared or jeered at, or hold hands with your partner in the wrong part of town and you risk being chased or attacked. Often times when we as queer people celebrate who we are, we risk drinking “so much love from the rosy cup that [we] die, not knowing if [we’ve] drunk it dry.” Translation 1. Translation 2. Translation 3.

Conflict

Every minority experiences conflict, and while these conflicts are often intrinsic to the world in which we live, for queer people the most threatening conflicts are internalized. Though Barber lived an unconventional lifestyle (taking up a home with two other men during a time when that was very much taboo), the composer never made his sexuality public. Yet, the decision to keep one’s private life to themselves is arguably one of the most challenging moments of a queer person’s life.

While coming out is a paramount step for sexual minorities, the conflict surrounding it isn’t so cut and dry; life isn’t always happier or easier after coming out. In fact, for many within the queer community who do come out, life gets more conflicting. This is because in addition to being marked by the non-queer community, queer people also face the norms and expectations set within the LGBTQ+ community itself. For example, after coming out as transgender, a person might feel marginalized if they do not fit a particular “trans image” that is standardized through media and society. All this considered, it may seem easier for sexual minorities just to stay hidden rather than come out, and therein lies the conflict.

The songs in this set explore this conflict, particularly through the lens of hiding love away. “Love at the door” is a song about the “winds” of love and how its “blowing” can influence toward or away from it. “In the Dark Pinewood” is the straightforward wish for a hidden romantic encounter.

In contrast, “Nocturne” is the most poetically abstract of the songs on the program. Though the specific allusions and symbols can be interpreted in many different ways, the theme of longing is clear. In the context of this program, I interpret this as longing for a dream of romance away from bigotry. This, to me, seems especially salient in the speaker’s final wish “none to watch us, none to warn/But the blind eternal night.”

Text 1. Text 2. Text 3.

Acceptance

When we talk about acceptance we can view this through two different perspectives. One being the acceptance from who we keep in our lives, the other the acceptance that we gain for ourselves. Obviously it is ideal when these two kinds of acceptance overlap, yet these are relatively independent of one another, the former oftentimes being outside of the queer person’s control. While acceptance for oneself can be significantly improved by one’s own journey of queer identification, this isn’t something that is attained. Instead, I understand acceptance in this context as crossing a threshold of confidence and self-love while acknowledging the continuous effort it takes to maintain this.

Perfume Genius is an artist that makes this process visible in his music. The artist writes, “…no violence no matter how bad, can darken the heart or tear it apart,” and, “…underneath this hood you kiss, I tick like a bomb.” These songs allude to the societal bigotry queer people experience, as well as the conflict within, the “hood” symbolizing the physical exterior. The inherently positive tone of these songs demonstrates acceptance: even though the artist acknowledges their struggle, they also acknowledge that they are working through it.

“Secret Love,” made famous by Doris Day, is the proudest song on the program, signaling a transformative tonal shift within the narrative: “…at last my heart’s an open door, and my secret love’s no secret anymore.” While the language of this song is gender neutral, at the time of its composition, the song was a bold statement of hope for queer listeners: the hiding is over and we have stepped out of the closet—or the dark pinewood—and into the sun. Text 1 & 2. Text 3. Text 4.