The clear, radiant voice of soprano Barbara Bonney filled Finney Chapel with the longing and anguish of Robert Schumann’s vast song cycle Dichterliebe last Sunday night.
In her stellar performance, Bonney brought life to the themes of unrequited love from the text, based on Heinrich Heine’s love poems, and captured the immense beauty of the music. Although she sang with vocal freedom, her delicate rubato never sounded distorted. Her skill was most evident in songs such as “Hör’ ich das Liedchen klingen” where her voice was soaked in mournfulness and in the more playful “Ein Jungling liebt ein Madchen,” which followed.
Both the work’s music and text are layered with complexity. What stands out in Dichterliebe is the enharmonic restoring of the final song, the ambiguity of the opening key and the discernible pattern of modulation throughout. But the music, despite its rich texture, has a light touch.
Since the Dichterliebe is written for and usually sung by men, some people in the classical music world have raised issues as to whether it is appropriate for a female soprano to perform the work.
“Although the poems are told by a specific man about his love for a woman, the human emotions are universal — love, sorrow and disappointment — and delving into these poems gives a woman a chance to explore her male side and to understand what goes on in the thoughts of the other half,” Bonney said. “I imagined I was the woman to whom the poems were addressed, retelling the story of the man who had loved her, and the torture and pain he went through.”
The soprano usually aims to present focused programs, so that the separate works in her performances seem bound together. Bonney went from Schumann’s complexity to Schubert’s Mozart-inspired song cycles and concluded the recital with Liszt’s “Der Fisherknabe.” In Schubert’s bright “Wohin” from the 1829 song cycle, Schwanengesang, Bonney’s voice was suffused with a lightness and grace, while in Liszt’s “Freudvoll und Leidvoll” she used a dark and chivalrous voice, demonstrating the wide range of her skillfully controlled instrument. The piano playing of Margo Garret supported Bonney with a well-balanced intensity.
As much as she is an excellent recitalist, Bonney also proved to be just as competent a teacher. An interested audience, mostly made up of voice majors, had the opportunity to enjoy her enchanting personality and irresistible musical intelligence during a master class at the Conservatory the day before her performance. Her commitment to communicating her vast knowledge of song literature and the art of recital was clear during the class.
After the last piece on the program, the audience showed its appreciation with enthusiastic applause. Bonney and Garrett responded by performing two encores: Schubert’s “Auf dem wasser zu singer” and Liszt’s “Oh! quand je dors.”
Overall, Bonney’s recital was a model of delicacy as well as musical sharpness. It was a captivating performance that demonstrated the singer’s acute insight into a complex work that gives off an extraordinary aesthetic impression.