Poetic Melody

Riverside Symphony presents an evening of Schubert in Lambertville Jan. 25.

By: Mary Jasch

"Coloratura
Princeton resident Carol Chickering will sing a group of eight Schubert songs with Riverside Symphonia, under the direction of Mariusz Smolij.


   Party music was all the rage in the early 19th century.
   Small bands played at the large homes of friends and music lovers. They took poetry and turned it into song, then took the song and added piano, bass and violin, and sometimes cello and viola. The subtle nuances of voice also were showcased in these intimate settings.
   The new sound was called chamber music.
   Franz Schubert of Austria was one young composer who set poetry to melody, and audiences can experience the intimacy and joy of his music Jan. 25, when Riverside Symphonia presents Schubert’s World at the First Presbyterian Church in Lambertville.
   Riverside Symphonia, now in its 13th year, is under the musical direction of Mariusz Smolij, a major international conductor and resident conductor at the Houston Symphony. Riverside seats up to 65 players from the tri-state area. A piano quintet and guest soprano will perform Schubert’s work this month.
   It was the fashion in the early 1800s for composers to borrow from their own work for the greater good of a symphony. Romantic ballads were often the beginning of a chamber work that later became an even larger symphony. Before the song, poetry blessed the lips of would-be balladeers, and the words were borrowed and set to music. Such is the case of Franz Schubert’s The Trout, one of the great masterworks of chamber music.
   Princeton resident Carol Chickering, coloratura soprano, will sing Die Forelle (The Trout) followed by the quintet’s version. The 19th-century poem, written by Chubard, was set to music by Schubert, first as a lieder (a romantic ballad), then a quintet.
   Death and the Maiden also will be part of Ms. Chickering’s performance. Its history is longer. The work was born as a painting, which inspired the poem that became the lieder, then a quintet. "It’s the history of art inspiring art," explains Suzanne Maccia, Riverside’s executive director. "It’s extremely rare that the vocal works that are the roots of chamber music are performed. The song is the center, the heart, of the quintet."
   Ms. Chickering will sing a group of eight Schubert songs, including Die Forelle. She enjoys the broad range of expression afforded her when singing in a small setting. "I can sing more softly, with subtle shifts of color, and everybody will hear it and appreciate the changes," she says. "My pianissimo (very soft voice) is about as loud as the sound of a medium piano. I can shade the color of my voice with brightness and darkness."
   Ms. Chickering always knew throughout her life that she would be doing a lot of singing and that she wanted to make music as prolifically as she could. "As you continue to work and follow the path of things you love, life deals some interesting turns," she says.
   She studied at the Juilliard School, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Banff Center of Canada. "They offered me a dream role in the opera ‘Cendrillon,’ Massenet’s version of ‘Cinderella,’ where I sang the role of the fairy godmother. It’s certainly one of my favorite coloratura opera roles," she says. Since then, she has employed the high, light, agile qualities of coloratura, with a lot of fast moving parts. "A composer can write wonderfully insane music for a coloratura," she says. She became a free-lance artist in 1991.
   After the birth of her daughter four years ago, Ms. Chickering shifted her focus and became more of a chamber musician and concert artist than opera singer.
   "It made my life less theatrical and more musical. To my surprise, I really liked being strictly a musician," she says.
   By nature, the instrumental make-up of chamber music contributes to its intimacy for both audience and musicians. The decision making is fine-tuned, and the music is played by mutual understanding.
   "This is what I particularly delight in when making chamber music," Ms. Chickering says. "The pianist and I have similar instincts about the music. He makes the instrument sound beautiful and plays with a tremendous range of expression. Every once in a while, I get to be a part of creating something truly beautiful. That’s the moment it all comes together and you know why you’re doing what you’re doing."
   The concert will include one concert piece written by Ludwig van Beethoven. Concertmaster Ruotao Mao Sonnata chose it because it was written in the year that Schubert was born, in the style of his day. Beethoven was Schubert’s idol, and Mr. Mao wanted to compare the two masters’ skills in writing variations on a theme. "Beethoven’s style is more masculine, while Schubert’s is more feminine. Beethoven works on a huge symphonic scale while Schubert is more intimate. He did the melody the best, and lyrics," he says.
   "I find that Schubert is more challenging to play because he is less dramatic. The feeling is subtle with the transparency of Mozart, and in the way of phrase is very hard to bring up nicely."
   Mr. Mao, a violinist, has been with Riverside for a dozen years. He started the violin at 6, much against his wishes, but went on to become a free-lance violinist and professor of violin and viola at The College of New Jersey. He also plays in the Amabile String Quartet.
   Other members of the quintet are Mr. Mao’s wife, cellist Mikyung Lee, violist Meng-Chun Chi, bassist Joanne Bates and pianist Steve Ryan.
   Ms. Chickering advises that no prior knowledge of chamber or classical music is necessary to enjoy the performance. The music speaks for itself.
   "Part of the job of being a performer is very much as if I’m inviting somebody to my home," she says. "If somebody comes to the concert knowing absolutely nothing, they can still enjoy it. When I told someone I’m an opera singer, their first response was an apologetic ‘I don’t know anything.’ It broke my heart. Music, like a novel, is to be enjoyed and only secondarily to be understood."
Riverside Symphonia will perform at the First Presbyterian Church, 31 N. Union St., Lambertville, Jan. 25, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $19-$27 and are available at Dresswells in Lambertville, Kenny’s in Doylestown, Pa., Weidel Realty in New Hope, Pa., or by calling (215) 862-3300. To make reservations for a pre-concert dinner at the Church Street Bistro, Lambertville, call (609) 397-4383.