Sand City Opera Company
At Suzka Studio
Saturday, December 13, 2008 at 2.p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

James Grainger, Bass; Alfred Harris, Tenor; Lucy Faridany, Piano
                                   
Mighty Lord and King all glorious ~ "Christmas Oratorio" ~ J. S. Bach
   This is the greatest aria in the collection of six cantatas that comprise                   
   Bach's Christmas Oratorio (wish we had a superb  trumpet player. It is a true                  
   "tour de force" for bass so much so that it wont be first on the program.              
   James will warm up with something else
                       
Lolita ~ A. Buzzi Peccia
   This has nothing much to do about Christmas at all except, perhaps, a winter break
   in a warm Spanish clime with a pretty girl dancing clicking her castanets
                       
Cantique de Noe ~ A. Adam ~ A Christmas favorite
                       
Io non ho che una povera stanzetta ~ "La Boheme" ~ Leoncavallo
   Another of my favorite real estate numbers. In Leoncavallo's wonderful recreation
   of Muger's novel set at Christmastime in Paris. Marcello( yes, a tenor here) tells
   Musetta I'm sorry but06.07.09nbsp;                      
Vecchia zimara, senti ~ "La Boheme" ~ G.Puccini
   In the much more familiar Puccini version of "La Boheme" Colline bids farewell to
   his cloak which he is about to sell to raise money for Mimi's medecines. Actually
   Leoncavallo, a fine man of letters, as well as a composer, probably prepared the
   first draft libretto for the opera.      
           
L'Esule ~ G. Rossini
   Perhaps Christmas for a man in a really nice country but its not his native land. One                   
   of the great songs Rossini wrote after his early retirement from the opera business.         
           
La Calunia ~ "Barber of Seville" ~ G. Rossini
   Difficult to relate an aria about slander or calumny to anything about Christmas.
                       
Ah! Mes Amis,quel jour de fete. ~ La jolie fille de regiment" ~ G. Donizetti
   Well, at least it’s a day to celebrate if nothing to do about Christmas.                  
   Tonio is celebrating the prospect of marrying Marie and joining her regiment.
                       
Madamina ~ "Don Giovanni" ~ W. A. Mozart
   Leporello, the Don's servant, lists Don Giovanni's conquests to Elvira.                
   In Spain there are 1,004. I'm sorry 1,003. Leporello was not an accountant.
                       
Serenade ~ "Faust" ~ C. Gounod
   The Devil singing a serenade is just about as far from Christmas as we can get.
                       
Lo Spazzacamino ~ G. Verdi
   Its only polite to have a chimney sweep in before Christmas so Santa wont get
   too sooty. In those days they had little boys climb down and up the wide chimneys.      
           
Widmung ~ F. Schuman ~ Devotion.
                       
Orgia ~ G. Rossini
   Somebody is always likely to drink too much at Christmas and start singing                   
   about love of women and wine!                 

A few carols arranged for a duet.