Nancy Armstrong, soprano
Audio Files from CDs & Live Concerts
Informal Commentary by Steven Finch Entry 1 Nan was soprano soloist in a 1979 Boston Camerata recording of Pierre Certon's Messe "Sus le pont d'Avignon" (ca. 1550).
1. Kyrie You will often hear Nan's voice interweaving with a tenor -- Ken Fitch (who passed away in 2010) -- both ecstatic & exuberant in this music-making of divine order.
"Que n'est-elle auprès de moy celle que j'ayme? Nan starts this lively quartet. She appears in other CD tracks too, but I'll stop here. Marylène Altieri kindly provided the English translation. Entry 2
A 1984 Boston Camerata recording entitled "L'Homme Armé: Music of War and Peace" featured Nan as soprano soloist.
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643): Altri canti d'Amor
In the first track, e.g., all sopranos enter at 0:30 but she is alone at 1:15.
I could listen to this gorgeous polyphony every day!
2. Gloria
3. Credo
4. Sanctus
5. Agnus Dei
Certon was also famous for his secular songs, e.g.,
J'ay esté amoureux d'une assez belle dame
Elle m'a faict coqu, dont j'ay esté infâme.
Que n'est-elle auprès de moy celle que j'ayme
Ung aultre amye ay faicte
Qui a bon bruit et fame.
Mais si trompé j'en suys,
Jamais n'aymeray femme.
Que n'est-elle auprès de moy celle que j'ayme." /
Why is my beloved not near me?
I loved a fine fair lady
But she cuckolded me, rendering me infamous.
Why is my beloved not near me?
Another love comes my way,
Of good repute and renown,
But if I'm wronged again,
Never more shall I love a woman.
Why is my beloved not near me?
It contains an exceptional mixture of languages & musical styles, on themes of conflict & reconciliation.
As everyone's time is valuable, I will give brief excerpts only, focusing on Nan's contributions.
"Altri canti d'Amor, tenero arciero,
i dolci vezzi, ei sospirati baci;
narri gli sdegni e le bramate paci
quand'unisce due alme un sol pensiero." /
Let others sing of Love, the tender archer,
of sweet charms and longed-for kisses;
let them tell of anger and yearned-for peace
when a single thought binds together two souls.
Orlande de Lassus (ca. 1532-1594): In Hora Ultima
"In hora ultima peribunt omnia" /
In the last hour, all things shall perish
Claude Goudimel (ca. 1514-1572): Ô Combien est Plaisant
"Ô combien est plaisant et souhaitable
de voir ensemble en concorde amiable
frères unis s'entretenir!
Cela me fait de l'onguent souvenir;
tant precieux, dont perfumer je voi
Aaron, le Prêtre de la Loi." /
Behold how good and pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity! It
is like the precious ointment that ran
down upon Aaron, the Priest of Law.
Salamone Rossi (ca. 1570-1630): Kaddish
"Yit-gadal v'yit-kadash sh'may raba b'alma
dee-v'ra che-ru-tay, ve'yam-lich mal-chutay
b'chai-yay-chon uv'yo-may-chon uv-cha-yay
d'chol beit Yisrael, ba-agala u'vitze-man
ka-riv, ve'imru amen." /
Magnified and sanctified be Your name, O God,
throughout the world, which You have created
according to Your will. May Your sovereignty be
accepted in our own days, in our lives, and in the life of
all the House of Israel, speedily and soon, and let us say,
Amen.
Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672): Es ging ein Sämann auss
"Es ging ein Sämann aus, zu säen seinen Samen.
Und in dem er säte, fiel etliches an den
Weg und ward zertreten,
und die Vögel unter dem Himmel frassens auf.
Wer Ohren hat, zu hören, der höre!
Und etliches fiel auf den Fels;
und da es aufging, verdorrete es,
darum dass es nicht Saft hatte.
Wer Ohren hat, zu hören, der höre!" /
A sower went out to sow his seed.
And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside
and it was trodden down,
and the fowls of the air devoured it.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
And some fell upon a rock;
and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away,
because it lacked moisture.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Performances are correspondingly vigorous & heartrending.
Entry 3
Henry Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas" (ca. 1688) was the first English opera to hold a permanent place in the repertory;
this album (1979) was the first recording to employ period instruments, recreating Purcell's envisioned sound.
I'm very proud that Nan played a spectacular role -- Belinda! -- in this groundbreaking event.
Shake the cloud from off your brow,
Fate your wishes does allow;
Empire growing, pleasures flowing,
Fortune smiles and so should you.
Banish sorrow, banish care,
Grief should ne'er approach the fair.
Grief increases by concealing,
Mine admits of no revealing.
Then let me speak; the Trojan guest
Into your tender thoughts has press'd;
The greatest blessing Fate can give,
Our Carthage to secure and Troy revive.
When monarchs unite,
How happy their state,
They triumph at once o'er their foes
And their fate.
Fear no danger to ensue,
The Hero loves as well as you,
Ever gentle, ever smiling,
And the cares of life beguiling,
Cupid strew your path with flowers,
Gather'd from Elysian bowers.
Pursue thy conquest, Love; her eyes
Confess the flame her tongue denies.
To the hills and the vales, to the rocks and the mountains,
To the musical groves and the cool shady fountains.
Let the triumphs of love and of beauty be shown.
Go revel, ye Cupids, the day is your own.
Thanks to these lovesome vales
Thanks to these lovesome vales,
These desert hills and dales,
So fair the game, so rich the sport,
Diana's self might to these woods resort.
Haste, haste to town, this open field
No shelter from the storm can yield.
As before, I focus on Nan's contributions, giving only excerpts to save everyone's too-scarce time.
D'Anna Fortunato (who played Dido) is paired with Nan in the recitative; Roberta Anderson sings in the duet with Nan that follows.
The soloists, chorus & orchestra of the Boston Camerata are magnificent throughout!
P.S. Linking to other solos by Nan in the Camerata recordings:
* Nativitat en Occitania e endacòm mai would be lovely, but alas these LPs were never reissued as CDs. Entry 4
Lester Trimble (1923-1986) composed the music "Four Fragments from the Canterbury Tales" purely as practice (as warm-up for an opera he envisaged).
...a young Squire, ...he was Accompanying Nan are Alan Weiss, flute; Bruce Creditor, clarinet; and Mark Kroll, harpsichord. 'A Yong Squier' is preceded by
Prologe &
A Knyght and followed by
The Wyf of Biside Bathe.
Please visit
DRAM
for the texts (click on "Read Liner Notes".) Entry 5
Kenneth Koch, "the funniest serious poet we have", collaborated with composer Virgil Thomson in a 1959 song cycle "Mostly About Love".
Let's take a walk Nan here is accompanied by pianist Anthony Tommasini. Nan met Tony when he still wrote for the Boston Globe; Here are the other three of Ken's off-the-wall poems, set by Virgil and sung by Nan:
Love Song ['To you'];
text
Down at the Docks;
text
Prayer to St Catherine;
text
Unquestionably, the music elevates the words to another realm. Entry 6
Nan here sings the first of Wes York's "Three Native Songs" (1985).
where
[Text by Teal Duck (from the Lakota Nation)] Nan is accompanied by Susan Downey & Peggy Friedland, flutes; Entry 7
Ronald Perera composed a large-scale cantata in 1991, based on Henry Beston's 1928 environmental book "The Outermost House", for the
Chatham Chorale of Cape Cod.
My western windows are most beautiful in early evening. On these lovely, cool September nights the level and quiescent dust of light which fills the sky is as autumnal in its coloring as the earth below.
She next appears in the 4th movement:
The uncontrolled seething violence of nature has rarely been so well portrayed in music.
The sea has many voices. Listen to the surf and you will hear in it a world of sounds: hollow boomings and heavy roarings, great watery tumblings and tramplings, long hissing seethes, sharp, rifle-shot reports, splashes, whispers, the grinding undertone of stones, and sometimes vocal sounds that might be half-heard talk of people in the sea.
Finally, the 8th & 11th movements:
That Multiplicity of Insect Tracks
could not be more distinct: one conveys the animated scampering of wildlife while the other possesses a languid solemnity.
That multiplicity of insect tracks, those fantastic ribbons which grasshoppers, promenading flies, spiders, and beetles printed on the dunes... where are they now?
By stopping here, I am robbing the listener of the stirring 13th movement, 'Hold Out Your Hands Over the Earth'.
Thanks are due to the Chatham Chorale for commissioning Ron's handiwork and for recording the splendid outcome. Entry 8
Nan played the sorceress Medea in the Boston Early Music Festival 1985 centerpiece performances of Handel's "Teseo". Her Act 5 aria is astounding:
"Morirò, mà vendicata, (passionate virtuosity at its most thrilling, recorded live, fully staged, with audience). Earlier, in Act 2, Medea angrily sings a solo:
"Quell'amor, ch'è nato a forza, and a duet with Egeo (played by countertenor Steven Rickards): Si ti lascio, altro amore io chiudo
"Si ti lascio, Another Act 2 aria unfortunately has recording flaws (it omits Medea's first phrase and truncates a recitative-like middle section). Dolce riposo, ed innocente pace!
"Dolce riposo, ed innocente pace! Nicholas McGegan conducted both vocal & instrumental forces. Here are
more credits.
"The orchestral playing was on a level I have never previously heard in the United States, the stage - with its scene-changes in full view, rippling waves
and descending clouds - looked marvellous, and the relationship of stage to orchestra (no buried pit but a close rapport with obbligato players able to
converse on equal terms with the singers) was revelatory... Additionally, Nan assumed the title role in the 1980 Boston Cecilia performances of "Semele" (another of a total of 17 Handelian heroine roles she has played). Endless Pleasure, Endless Love
Endless pleasure, endless love We owe thanks to Donald Teeters, beloved conductor & pioneering advocate of authentic instrumentation. Entry 9
'The New Yorker' [7/18/1988] called Nan "the Purcell Prima Donna of our day";
Sweeter than roses, or cool evening breeze,
written in 1695. The fifth line of Richard Norton's text provided the title of Nan's solo CD. We continue with:
Now the Night is chas'd away,
from 'The Fairy-Queen', composed in 1692. The texts he used (including that for this divertissement) are of unknown authorship. Moving on:
When a cruel long Winter has frozen the Earth,
Thus the ever grateful Spring,
Here's the Summer, sprightly, gay,
See my many colour'd fields
also from 'The Fairy-Queen'. Cyclicity of the seasons is conveyed in the opera (prelude of winter is identical to postlude of autumn).
Finally: Nan singlehandedly bewitches the vengefully monstrous demon Alecto with the power of song (in the opening track of her solo CD):
Music for a while
This is one of Purcell's most famous works. John Dryden & Nathaniel Lee wrote the text in 1679; the song was composed in 1692. Entry 10 No Christmas celebration would be complete without the Boston Camerata's 1978 "Sing We Noel" album.
Ad Cantus Laetitiae (12th cent. English)
"Ad cantus leticie
Gabriel from Evene King (13th cent. English)
Gabriel, sent from the king of
Exitemus et Letemus (12th cent. English)
"Exultemus et letemus:
Lullay/Coventry Carol (20th century American/16th cent. English)
Lullay, thou tiny little child,
Sunny Bank (20th cent. English)
As I sat on a sunny bank, We owe thanks to Bruce Fithian, tenor soloist in 'Lullay'.
Return to Nancy Armstrong's Home Page.
* La Primavera: The Natural World in Renaissance Music
* Josquin des Prez: Missa Pange Lingua
* Guillaume de Machaut: Messe de Nostre-Dame & Chansons
It ironically became his most popular work.
In singing this, Nan needed to master Middle English. The third movement is great rollicking fun:
a lover, and a gay youth on his way to knighthood,
with locks as curly as if they had been pressed.
He was about twenty years old, I guess;
he was of normal height
and wonderfully agile, and of great strength...
His clothing was embroidered to look like a meadow
all full of fresh flowers, white and red.
He sang or fluted all the day long;
he was as youthful as the month of May,
his gown was short, with long wide sleeves.
He knew how to sit his horse well,
...and ride beautifully;
he could compose songs and poems,
joust and dance, too, and draw and write.
So hotly did he love that at night
He slept no more than a nightingale.
The esteemed UWM scholar Gareth Dunleavy served as Nan's tutor.
My focus is on the third of Koch's charmingly playful poems ['Spring'], shortened (beautifully) by Thomson:
In the city
Till our shoes get wet
And when we see the traffic
Lights and the moon
Let's take a smile
Off the ashcan, let's walk
Into town.
Let's take a walk
Into the river
(I may even do that
Tonight) where
If I kiss you please
Remember with your shoes off
You're so beautiful like
A lifted umbrella orange
And white we may never
Discover the blue over-
Coat maybe never never O blind
With this (love) let's walk
Into the first
Rivers of morning as you are seen
To be bathed in a light white light
Come on
Tony went on (like his mentor Virgil) to be chief classical music critic for the New York Times.
Regrettably, Ken & Virgil never worked together from this point again.
Without the witty & delicate words from which to start, however, we would have nothing.
The circularity of the poem and ceaseless force of wind are well-captured by this fascinating (although experimental) music:
the wind
is blowing
the wind
is roaring
I stand
westward
the wind
is blowing
the wind
is roaring
I stand
Jeffrey Fischer & James Russell Smith, percussion; and Reed Woodhouse, piano; all conducted by Charles Fussell.
Please visit
DRAM
for texts underlying the other two songs (click on "Read Liner Notes") & background.
He wrote a challenging soprano solo with Nan's voice expressly in mind.
My focus will be on only the 4 movements (out of 13) that Nan sings, out of respect for everyone's time.
Nan first appears in the lush & evocative 2nd movement:
It is dark tonight, and over the plains of ocean the autumnal sky rolls up the winter stars.
There is autumn on the earth and autumn overhead. The great isles of tawny orange smoldering into darkness, the paths of the channels stilled to twilight bronze, the scarlet meadows deepening to levels of purple and advancing night...
It is dark tonight, and over the plains of ocean the autumnal sky rolls up the winter stars.
The beam of Nauset, entering my northern casement, brushes a recurrent pallor of light across my bedroom wall. A first flash, a second flash, a third flash...
On bright moonlit nights I can see both the whitewashed tower and the light; on dark nights, I can see only the light itself suspended and secure above the earth.
It is dark tonight...
Late one night, as I sat reading, the very father of all waves must have flung himself down before the house, for the quiet of the night was suddenly overturned by a gigantic, tumbling crash and an earthquake rumbling; the beach trembled beneath the avalanche, the dune shook, and my house so shook in its dune that the flame of a lamp quivered and pictures jarred on the walls...
The great spilling crash... Cataract roar... Listen to the surf. Toppling over and hurled ahead, the wave crashes...
Within thirty-five feet the water shoals from two feet to dry land. The edge of the rush thins, and the last impulse disappears in inch-deep slides of foam which reflect the sky in one last moment of energy and beauty and then vanish all at once into the sands.
All those little fiddles in the grass, all those cricket pipes, those delicate flutes... where are they now?
There is no trace or vestige of the summer's insect world, yet one feels them here, the trillion, trillion tiny eggs in grass and marsh and sand, all faithfully spun... all faithfully sealed and hidden away, all waiting for the rush of this earth through space and the resurgence of the sun.
It was still night.
Sleep gone and past recapture,
I went to the beach.
Creation is here and now.
In the luminous east,
two great stars aslant
were rising clear
of the exhalations of darkness
gathered at the rim of night and ocean:
Betelgeuse and Bellatrix,
the shoulders of Orion.
Now, once again,
the Hunter rose
to drive summer south
before him.
Creation is here and now.
But this would be best heard in the context of the
whole cantata,
not a partial sampling of movements (as I've done here).
Margaret Bossi conducted the Chorale and instrumental ensemble.
Please visit
DRAM for Ron's reflections (click on "Read Liner Notes") and
MAA &
Perera
for essential history and glowing reviews.
Vendicata morirò.
E vedrò pria di morire
Lacerata,
Trucidata
La rivale, e l'infedele,
Che crudele m'oltraggiò." /
I shall die; but avenged,
avenged I shall die.
And I shall see before I die
wounded,
annihilated
the rival woman and the unfaithful man
who cruelly defied me.
Until recently, I thought no recording existed. Someone, however, taped the radio broadcast (WQXR in NYC) at the time and posted it 37 years later.
Please disregard the slideshow (which is not aligned with the music).
Non contenta un core amante.
Qual s'accende tal s'ammorza,
E si perde in un istante." /
That love which is born of force
does not satisfy a loving heart.
As soon as it is lit, it is consumed,
and it is lost in a minute.
Altro amore io chiudo in petto.
Tu credesti col fuggirmi,
Ch'il mio core
Fosse privo d'agni affetto." /
Yes, I am leaving you.
I conceal another love in my breast.
You believed, by fleeing from me,
that my heart
might be deprived of all other affection.
I thus hesitate to link to this, but the oboe obliggato (Stephen Hammer) weaving with a more sympathetic Medea (Nan) is too exquisite to cut entirely:
Ben felice è quel sen che vi possiede.
Sempre fù a me tiranno,
Il pargoletto Amore;
Or' nuovi strali al core
D'aventar si compiace,
E non lo sana, allor ch'il malo chiede." /
Sweet repose, and innocent peace!
Truly happy is the soul that possesses both of you.
To me he has always been a tyrant,
the little child Cupid;
now new arrows at my heart
he delights to hurl,
and he never heals me, although my suffering pleads.
Nan's costume consisted of a dark blue dress with copper puffy sleeves and a large white wig. A Baroque flying machine enabled her highly dramatic exit from the stage at the conclusion.
The London Times reviewer (July 1, 1985) wrote,
the first act introduces the protagonists except for Medea, who starts the second act with a meltingly lovely arioso and only gradually unveils the terror
that strikes at the end of that act and the next in magnificent accompanied recitatives...
the Boston Medea, Nancy Armstrong, was by far the strongest personality in the cast and spat out her music with venom..."
A greater contrast of characters cannot be imagined. One (and only one?) aria has been preserved: if more exist, please inform us!
Semele enjoys above.
On her bosom Jove reclining,
Useless now his Thunder lies,
To her arms his bolts resigning,
And his lightning to her eyes.
the 'San Francisco Chronicle' [6/6/1988] wrote that Nan "has a voice of quicksilver agility and radiance, and she dispenses it with wit";
the 'Boston Globe' [10/1/1988] echoed that her voice "is a ripe apple of gold, fit for a goddess' prize".
Her interpretations of Purcell's songs are therefore instructive. We start with:
On a warm flowery shore, was the dear kiss,
First trembling made me freeze,
Then shot like fire all o'er.
What magic has victorious love!
For all I touch or see since that dear kiss,
I hourly prove, all is love to me.
All salute the rising Sun;
'Tis that happy, happy Day,
The Birth-Day of King Oberon.
And Nature imprison'd seeks in vain to be free;
I dart forth my beams, to give all things a birth,
Making Spring for the plants, every flower, and each tree.
'Tis I who give life, warmth, and vigour to all,
Even Love who rules all things in Earth, Air, and Sea;
Would languish, and fade, and to nothing would fall,
The World to its Chaos would return, but for me.
Does her yearly tribute bring;
All your sweets before him lay,
The round his altar, sing and play.
Smiling, wanton, fresh and fair;
Adorn'd with all the flow'rs of May,
Whose various sweets perfume the air.
And loaded trees my will obey;
All the fruit that autumn yields
I offer to the God of day.
I love the dazzlingly upbeat songs about spring & summer -- sweeping dreary winter aside -- and autumn is sublimely haunting.
Shall all your cares beguile:
Wond'ring how your pains were eas'd
And disdaining to be pleas'd,
Till Alecto free the dead
From their eternal bands,
Till the snakes drop from her head
And the whip from out her hands.
Thanks are due to Daniel Stepner & Anthony Martin, violin; Laura Jeppensen, viola da gamba; and John Gibbons, harpsichord (1982).
It seems that an autograph score, in Purcell's hand, does not exist.
But while searching for clues about this online, I found mention of a certain "Armstrong-Finch manuscript" at
Sotheby's
&
RISM
containing Purcell's sonatas for violin/flute.
Two instrumentalists William Armstrong & Edward Finch compiled these & more in the early 1700s.
This is such a curious coincidence!
Our family names are fairly common, yes, but the fact that they jointly pertain to beloved Purcell is remarkable (insofar as Nan even called one of her kitties "Henry Purcell").
There is so much brilliance & cohesion here that to extract excerpts seems quite unconscionable.
Joel Cohen was the director & creative force behind this imaginative programming.
Performances & recordings (like these) with the Camerata were foundational to Nan's professional career.
nos inuitant hodie
spes et amor patrie
celetis.
Natus est Emanuel
quem predixit Gabriel,
unde sanctus Michael
est testis.
Iudea gens misera
crede si uis propera
esse potes libra
si credis." /
We are led today
to sing songs of joy
by our love and hope
for the heavenly kingdom.
Today Emanuel was born
as Gabriel had foretold,
to which St. Michael
is witness.
Wretched Jewish peoples:
believe in Him, please, and hurry!
You can still be free
if you believe.
heaven to the sweet maiden,
brought her blissful tidings
and greeted her thus beautifully:
"Hail be thou, full of grace indeed!
For God's son, this light from heaven,
will become man for love of man,
taking flesh of thee, fair maiden, to
free mankind from sin and the devil's might."
Nicholaum ueneremus
eius laudes decantemus
et suef aleiz
decantando perdicemus
et si m'entendeiz.
Quidquid adest homo gaude
presul adest dignus laude
omnis ordo gratulare
et suef aleiz
nunc est dignum exultare
et si m'entendeiz.
Vates tuus sit hic clamor
Nicholae noster amor
hec et noster quid sit rector
et suef aleiz
iube domne dicat lector
et si m'entendeiz." /
Rejoice, rejoice!
Let us now honor Nicholas
and sing his praises!
Soft, soft,
and by singing do them justice!
Do you hear me?
All who are here, be glad:
a priest most praiseworthy is here.
Welcome him all orders!
Soft, soft.
Now is the time to be joyful.
Do you hear me?
Prophet, yours be all this outcry,
our beloved Nicholas,
and yours be all we have, O Guardian!
Soft, soft,
Bid the reader speak, Sir!
Do you hear me?
By by, lullay lullay.
O sisters too,
How may we do
To persevere this day
This poor youngling,
For whom we do sing,
By by, lullay lullay?
Herod, the king,
In his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might,
In his own sight,
All young children to slay.
On Christmas Day in the morning.
I spied three ships come sailing by,
On Christmas Day in the morning.
And who should be with those three ships
But Joseph and his fair lady!
O he did whistle and she did sing,
On Christmas Day in the morning.
And all the bells on earth did ring,
On Christmas Day in the morning.