On First Times (Pierrot Lunaire Program Notes)
Recital credit - it’s a pleasure and plight of many a music major, but for those who chose to get “real” degrees in school, allow me to explain. Each music major is required to attend a given number of student or faculty performances each semester of study and submit proof of such attendance by way of a program from said performance. I remember coming dangerously close to the end of the semester during my freshman year at Rutgers and still needing to meet the recital requirement. With few options left on the concert calendar, my friend Romel and I decided to give new music a try. We winced through an avant garde solo snare drum performance (sorry percussionists) and realized to our dismay that there was no intermission during which we could gracefully escape. We were prisoners of the Helix New Music Ensemble for the rest of the concert. But! Hope arrived in the form of a mysterious piece for voice and chamber ensemble called Pierrot Lunaire. However, our hopes were dashed when the singer - a fabulous doctoral candidate in my teacher’s studio - appeared on the scene dressed in a full Venetian clown getup. Then she opened her mouth. Romel and I leaned forward. Was that singing? What was happening? It was disturbing. So much so that Romel and I started to laugh - not loudly, and certainly not out of malice - out of discomfort. This reaction was mild, especially when compared to that of the piece’s American premiere in1923 which was said to have “disrupted families” and “severed lifelong friendships.” Ouch. After leaving the concert, Romel and I couldn’t stop talking about what we had just heard. Pierrot Lunaire haunted me, and I started forcing my friends to listen to recordings of it and my own attempts at this vocal technique called Sprechstimme (this is a great way to make friends). I had drunk the proverbial Kool-Aid (or rather, moonlight?) and was all in. This piece sparked a curiosity in me that served as the foundation of my musical studies and interests, and I am so pleased to provide some of you in the audience with your first encounter with Pierrot. Buckle up. It’s about to get weird. You’re allowed to laugh.
- Nicole Renna