Wild Women of Song
Florence, Palazzo Corsini al Prato — Fondazione Mascarade Opera — Salone dei concerti
About the Event
The term “wild” is often used pejoratively to describe something that is out of control and unruly, particularly when referring to women. In this recital, artistic director Elenora Pertz and award‐winning mezzo‐soprano Hagar Sharvit reclaim the meaning of the “wild woman”: she who follows her intuition, celebrates life but doesn’t fear death, loves fiercely, laughs whole‐heartedly, and yet knows how to bare her teeth if necessary.
More Info: In this recital, Elenora and Hagar reclaim the term “wild woman” as she who belongs to her instinctual self: The woman who knows how to create life and let things die can love fiercely and bare her teeth when needed she who laughs and grieves wholeheartedly.
They use song as a form of storytelling—which has always been a woman’s art— and traverse these stories via the seasons of a woman’s life.
They start with winter: death and welcoming the passing on to the next realm. Both the Hebrew mourning prayer “Kaddish” and the German Romantics Schubert and Brahms see death as a welcome guest after a life well‐lived, and not someone to be feared.
Next follows the blooming of spring with new love and discoveries, such as one young girl learning to play Pan’s flute, or another anxiously waiting for her breasts to grow. Elenora and Hagar also tell a cautionary tale of what can happen when one doesn’t listen to the advice of her mother, and follows seductions naively.
The summer of mature love and pleasure is demonstrated in such sensual settings such as “Le Chevelure” by Rita Strohl and “Schenk mir deinen goldenen Kamm” by Schoenberg. Verlaine and Debussy tell us that “the sea is more beautiful than the cathedral”, reminding us that nature is more supreme than anything man can make. The passing on of wisdom to one’s children through song is told in Dvořak’s memorable “Songs my mother taught me”.
In the autumn of a woman’s life, the wild soul knows how to set fierce boundaries, move on from love’s disappointments, and stand by what she desires—whether that be wanting to smoke all day instead of working (Poulenc’s “Hôtel”) or loving someone considered impure (“Die Ballade von der Judenhure Marie Sanders). The autumnal woman knows how to grieve, to let go, and when to be lost to this world so she can live in her own life, love, and song.
Practical Information
Doors open at 6:30 PM
Address
Palazzo Corsini al Prato — Fondazione Mascarade Opera, Via Il Prato 56, Florence, Italy — Google Maps
