In the Stacks

Featuring Opera Baltimore

Betrayal! Lust! Fate! This performance featuring Opera Baltimore will explore themes of romance and heartbreak. Songs by Tchaikovsky and others have been paired with pulpy treasures from the Sheridan Libraries Romance Comic Book Collection and popular songs from the Lester Levy Sheet Music Collection.

Program

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Selections from the Opera Eugene Onegin:

“Letter Scene”

Onegin’s Aria

Final duet

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Von ewige liebe (Eternal Love)

Paolo Tosti (1846-1916)

Non t’amo più (I Don’t Love You Anymore)

Georgy Sviridov (1915-1998)

Virgin in the City

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

Aleko’s Cavatina from the opera Aleko

Meredith Willson (1902-1984)

My White Knight (from The Music Man)

Langston Hughes, Kurt Weill

What Good Would the Moon Do? (from Street Scene)

Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner

If Ever I Would Leave You (from Camelot)

Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer

On My Own (from Les Misérables)

email
Newsletter

Subscribe to be the first to learn about upcoming performances.

music_note
Donate

Donate to the Sheridan Libraries to help support In the Stacks (select Friends of the Libraries as the designation)

About the Artists

 

Emily Margevich, soprano

Emily Margevich has been performing since the age of two, with Chicagoland professional musical theatre credits filling her childhood years. Noted for her “exceptionally well-knit soprano of admirable evenness from top to bottom” (Parterre Box), Ms. Margevich won the Kansas City District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition this year, won 3rd Place in the Meistersinger Competition in 2023, and Second Place in the Jensen Competition in 2021. Internationally, Emily portrayed Suor Angelica with Opera Festival of Morelia. Emily trained at DePaul University and The Academy of Vocal Arts singing such roles as Violetta, Musetta, and Donna Elvira. This season, Emily debuts with Opera Baltimore and Music Academy of the West.

 

Daniel Scofield, baritone

Dramatic baritone Daniel Scofield is a two-time prize winner of the The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a recipient of the Olga Forrai Foundation grant for dramatic voices in opera. He begins the 23/24 season with a return to the Prague State Opera for Pagliacci/Cavalleria Rusticana (Tonio/Algio) in a revival of last season’s critically acclaimed new production by Ondrej Havelka. Additional season engagements include returns to Opera Orlando for Tosca (Scarpia), Opera Baltimore for Eugene Onegin in the title role and debuts with Fort Worth Opera La bohème (Marcello), and the Teatro Municipal de Santiago as Scarpia in Tosca. Future seasons include role and company debuts at Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Staatsoper Hannover and a return to the Prague State Opera.

 

Joshua Hong, piano

A two-time recipient of The Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award, Joshua Hong is a conductor, opera coach, and collaborative pianist based in New York City. Joshua graduated in 2020 from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where he studied orchestral conducting under the late Larry Rachleff. At Rice, Joshua made regular appearances with the Shepherd School Orchestras and additionally served as Music Director of the Campanile Orchestra and Assistant Conductor of Shepherd School Opera. His performances have been described as “supple, buoyant… sensitively conducted” (Tim Smith, The Baltimore Sun).

 

Opera Baltimore

Opera Baltimore is thrilled to be in its 15th Season of fully-staged opera, concert opera, civic practice programs, free community concerts, and educational programs for all ages.

Opera Baltimore creates a thrilling, meaningful shared experience between our artists and audiences. Our vision to Build Community through Opera takes us everywhere from the large opera stage to outdoor venues, and everywhere in between. Founded in 2009 as Baltimore Concert Opera, the company was renamed Opera Baltimore in 2022, establishing a new commitment to expanded offerings which include fully staged opera in addition to our already successful concert operas, audience development and education programs.

Dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion, and recognizing that a person’s first time at the opera is as important as their thousandth, Opera Baltimore goes beyond artistic excellence to focus on the experience the patron has from the moment they buy a ticket until the moment they leave the theater.   Opera Baltimore will present Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin on February 23, March 1, and March 3, and Mozart’s The Impresario on April 10, 12, and 14 at our home venue of the Engineers Club.

Song Texts & Translations

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Selections from Eugene Onegin

    These three selections from Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin will be performed straight through without pause.

     

    “Letter Scene”:

     

    TATYANA:

    Let me perish, but first

    let me summon, in dazzling hope,

    bliss as yet unknown.

    Life’s sweetness is known to me!

    I drink the magic potion of desire!

    I am beset by visions!

    Everywhere, everywhere I look,

    I see my fatal tempter!

    Wherever I look, I see him!

     

    (She goes to the writing table, sits down, writes, then pauses.)

     

    No, that’s all wrong!

    I’ll begin again!

     

    (she tears up the unfinished letter)

     

    Ah, what’s the matter with me! I’m all on fire!

    I don’t know how to begin!

    (She writes, then pauses and reads it over.)

     

    ‘I write to you, – and then?

    What more is there to say?

    Now, I know, it is within your power

    to punish me with disdain!

    But if you nourish one grain of pity

    for my unhappy lot,

    you will not abandon me.

    At first I wished to remain silent;

    then, believe me, you would never

    have known my shame,

    never!’

     

    (She puts the letter aside.)

     

    O yes, I swore to lock within my breast

    this avowal of a mad and ardent passion.

    Alas, I have not the strength to subdue my heart!

    Come what may, I am prepared!

    I will confess all! Courage!

    He shall know all!

     

    (She writes.)

     

    ‘Why, oh why did you visit us?

    Buried in this remote countryside,

    I should never have known you,

    nor should I have known this torment.

    The turbulence of a youthful heart,

    calmed by time, who knows? –

    most likely I would have found another,

    have proved a faithful wife

    and virtuous mother…’

     

    (She becomes lost in thought, then rises suddenly.)

     

    Another! No, not to any other in the world

    would I have given my heart!

    It is decreed on high,

    It is the will of heaven: I am yours!

    My whole life has been a pledge

    of this inevitable encounter;

    I know this: God sent you to me,

    you are my keeper till the grave!

    You appeared before me in my dreams;

    as yet unseen, you were already dear,

    your wondrous gaze filled me with longing,

    your voice resounded in my heart

    long ago … no, it was no dream!

    As soon as you arrived, I recognized you,

    I almost swooned, began to blaze with passion,

    and to myself I said: ‘Tis he!

    ‘Tis he!

    I know it! I have heard you …

    Have you not spoken to me in the silence

    when I visited the poor

    or sought in prayer some solace

    for the anguish of my soul?

    And just this very moment,

    was it not you, dear vision,

    that flamed in the limpid darkness,

    stooped gently at my bedside

    and with joy and love

    whispered words of hope?

     

    (She returns to the table and sits down again to write.)

     

    ‘Who are you’? My guardian angel

    or a wily tempter?

    Put my doubts at rest.

    Maybe this is all an empty dream,

    the self? deception of an inexperienced soul,

    and something quite different is to be …’

     

    (She rises again and paces pensively to and fro.)

     

    But so be it! My fate

    henceforth I entrust to you;

    in tears before you,

    your protection I implore,

    I implore.

    Imagine: I am all alone here!

    No one understands me!

    I can think no more,

    and must perish in silence!

    I wait for you,

    I wait for you! Speak the word

    to revive my heart’s fondest hopes

    or shatter this oppressive dream

    with, alas, the scorn,

    alas, the scorn I have deserved!

     

    (She goes swiftly to the table, hurriedly finishes the letter and signs and seals it.)

     

    Finished! It’s too frightening to read over,

    I swoon from shame and fear,

    but his honour is my guarantee

    and in that I put my trust!

     

    Onegin’s aria:

     

    ONEGIN

    You wrote to me.

    Don’t deny it. I have read

    the avowal of a trusting heart,

     

    the outpouring of an innocent love;

    your candor touched me deeply.

    It has stirred

    feelings long since dormant.

    I won’t commend you for this,

    But I will repay you

    with an equally guileless avowal.

    Hear my confession,

    then judge me as you will!

     

    ONEGIN

    If I wished to pass my life

    within the confines of the family circle,

    and a kindly fate had decreed for me

    the role of husband and father,

    then, most like, I would not choose

    any other bride than you.

    But I was not made for wedded bliss,

    it is foreign to my soul,

    your perfections are vain,

    I am quite unworthy of them.

    Believe me, I give you my word,

    marriage would be a torment for us.

    No matter how much I loved you,

    habit would kill that love.

    Judge what a thorny bed of roses

    Hymen would prepare for us,

    and, perhaps, to be endured at length!

    One cannot return to dreams and youth,

    I cannot renew my soul!

    I love you with a brother’s love,

    a brother’s love

    or, perhaps, more than that!

    Perhaps, perhaps more than that!

    Listen to me without getting angry,

    more than once will a girl exchange

    one passing fancy for another.

    Learn to control your feelings; …

    … Not everyone will understand you as I do.

    Inexperience leads to disaster!

     

    Final duet:

     

    ONEGIN

    Leave you? Leave you! What! … Leave you?

    No! No!

    To see you hourly,

    to dog your footsteps, to follow

    your every smile, movement and glance

    with loving eyes,

    to listen to you for hours, to understand

    in my heart all your perfection,

    (falling to his knees, he seizes Tatyana’s hand and covers it with kisses)

    to swoon before you in passionate torment

    turn pale and pass away: this is bliss,

    this is my only dream, my only happiness!

     

    TATYANA

    (somewhat frightened, she withdraws her hand)

    Onegin, your heart knows

    both pride and true honour!

     

    ONEGIN

    I cannot leave you!

     

    TATYANA

    Eugene! You must. I beg you

    to leave me.

     

    ONEGIN

    Oh, have pity!

     

    TATYANA

    Why hide it, why pretend?

    Ah! I love you!

     

    (Overwhelmed by her confession, she sinks on Onegin’s breast. He embraces her, but she recovers her composure quickly and frees herself.)

     

    ONEGIN

    What do I hear?

    What was that word you spoke?

    O joy! Oh, my life!

    You are again the Tatyana of former days!

     

    TATYANA

    No! No!

    You cannot bring back the past!

    I am another’s now,

    my fate is already decided,

    I shall always be true to him.

     

    (She tries to leave, but sinks down, overcome. Onegin kneels before her.)

     

    ONEGIN

    Oh, do not drive me away; you love me!

    And I will not leave you!

    You will ruin your life for nothing!

    This is the will of Heaven: you are mine!

    All your life has been a pledge

    of our union!

    And be assured, I was sent to you by God,

    I am your protector to the grave!

    You cannot refuse me.

    For me you must forsake

    this hateful house, the clamour of society –

    You have no choice!

     

    TATYANA

    (rising lo her feet)

    Onegin, I shall remain firm; …

    ONEGIN

    No, you cannot …

    … refuse me …

     

    TATYANA

    … to another by fate …

    … have I been given,

    with him will I live and never leave him; …

     

    ONEGIN

    … For me …

    … you must forsake all, all –

    hateful house and social clamour!

    You have no choice!

    Oh, do not drive me from you, I implore!

    You love me; you will ruin

    your life for nothing!

    You are mine, mine for ever!

     

    TATYANA

    … No, I must remember my vows!

    Deep in my heart his desperate appeal

    strikes an answering chord,

    but having stifled the sinful flame,

    honour’s severe and sacred duty

    will triumph over the passion!

    I leave you!

     

    ONEGIN

    No! No! No! No!

     

    TATYANA

    Enough!

     

    ONEGIN

    Oh, I implore you: do not go!

     

    TATYANA

    No, I am resolved!

     

    ONEGIN

    I love you! I love you!

     

    TATYANA

    Leave me!

     

    ONEGIN

    I love you!

     

    TATYANA

    Farewell for ever!

     

    (She leaves the room.)

     

    ONEGIN

    (He stands stupefied for a moment, plunged in despair.)

    Ignominy! … Anguish! …

    Oh, my pitiable fate!

  • Johannes Brahms: Von Ewige Liebe (Eternal Love)

    Dunkel, wie dunkel in Wald und in Feld!
    Abend schon ist es, nun schweiget die Welt.

    Nirgend noch Licht und nirgend noch Rauch,
    Ja, und die Lerche sie schweiget nun auch.

    Kommt aus dem Dorfe der Bursche heraus,
    Gibt das Geleit der Geliebten nach Haus,

    Führt sie am Weidengebüsche vorbei,
    Redet so viel und so mancherlei:

    „Leidest du Schmach und betrübest du dich,
    Leidest du Schmach von andern um mich,

    Werde die Liebe getrennt so geschwind,
    Schnell wie wir früher vereiniget sind.

    Scheide mit Regen und scheide mit Wind,
    Schnell wie wir früher vereiniget sind.“

    Spricht das Mägdelein, Mägdelein spricht:
    „Unsere Liebe sie trennet sich nicht!

    Fest ist der Stahl und das Eisen gar sehr,
    Unsere Liebe ist fester noch mehr.

    Eisen und Stahl, man schmiedet sie um,
    Unsere Liebe, wer wandelt sie um?

    Eisen und Stahl, sie können zergehn,
    Unsere Liebe muß ewig bestehn!“

    Dark, how dark in forest and field!
    Evening already, and the world is silent.

    Nowhere a light and nowhere smoke,
    And even the lark is silent now too.

    Out of the village there comes a lad,
    Escorting his sweetheart home,

    He leads her past the willow-copse,
    Talking so much and of so many things:

    ‘If you suffer sorrow and suffer shame,
    Shame for what others think of me,

    Then let our love be severed as swiftly,
    As swiftly as once we two were plighted.

    Let us depart in rain and depart in wind,
    As swiftly as once we two were plighted.’

    The girl speaks, the girl says:
    ‘Our love cannot be severed!

    Steel is strong, and so is iron,
    Our love is even stronger still:

    Iron and steel can both be reforged,
    But our love, who shall change it?

    Iron and steel can be melted down,
    Our love must endure for ever!’

    Translation © Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)

  • Paolo Tosti: Non t'amo più (I Don't Love You Anymore)

    Ricordi ancora il dì che c’incontrammo,

    Le tue promesse le ricordi ancor…?

    Folle d’amore io ti seguii …ci amammo,

    E accanto a te sognai, folle  d’amor.

     

    Sognai felice, di carezze a baci

    Una catena dileguante in ciel;

    Ma le parole tue… furon mendaci…

    Perchè l’anima tua è fatta di gel.

     

    Te ne ricordi ancor?

    Te ne ricordi ancor?

     

    Or la mia fede, il desiderio immenso

    Il mio sogno d’amor…non sei più tu:

    I tuoi baci non cerco, a te non penso…

    Sogno un altro ideal; non t’amo più.

     

    Nei cari giorni che pasamo ineieme

    Io cosparsi di fiori il tuo sentier

    Tu fosti del mio cor l’unica speme

    Tu della mente l’unico pensier

     

    Tu m’hai visto pregare, impallidire,

    Piangere tu mhai visto innanzi a te

    Io sol per appagare un tuo desire

    Avrei dato il mio sangue a la mia fè…

     

    Te ne ricordi ancor?

    Te ne ricordi ancor?

     

    Or la mia fede,  il desiderio immenso

    Il mio sogno d’amor…non sei più tu:

    I tuoi baci non cerco, a te non penso…

    Sogno un altro ideal; non t’amo più.

    Do you still remember the day that we met;

    Do you still remember your promises?

    Crazy from love I followed you, we were enamored with each other

    And I dreamed next to you, crazy from love.

     

    I dreamed, happily, of caresses and kisses

    A chain fading away into the sky:

    But your words were misleading,

    Because your soul is made of ice.

     

    Do you still remember?

    Do you still remember?

     

    Now my faith, my immense desire;

    My dream of love isn’t you anymore:

    I don’t search for your kisses, I don’t think of you.

    I dream of another ideal; I don’t love you anymore.

     

    In the dear days that we spent together

    I scattered flowers at your feet

    You were the only hope of my heart

    You were the only thought in my mind

     

    You watched me beg, turning pale

    You watched me cry before you

    Only to satisfy your desire, I

    Had given my blood and my faith.

     

    Do you still remember?

    Do you still remember?

     

    Now my faith, my immense desire;

    My dream of love isn’t you anymore:

    I don’t search for your kisses, I don’t think of you.

    I dream of another ideal; I don’t love you anymore.

  • Georgy Sviridov: Virgin in the City

    You pass by without a smile,
    Your eyelashes cast down,
    And in the darkness above the cathedral
    Radiantly shine the golden domes.

    How your face resembles
    Those eventide Virgins
    With downcast eyelashes,
    Who vanish into the darkness…

    But a curly-haired boy walks with you,
    Meek and dressed in a white cap,
    You lead him by the hand,
    You do not let him fall.

    I stand in the shadow of the doorway,
    Where a sharp wind blows,
    Clouding my strained eyes
    With tears.

    I would like to step forward suddenly
    And cry out: ‘Mother of God!
    Why have You brought
    This Infant to my black city?’

    But my tongue is powerless to shout out.
    You pass by. Behind you
    Above your sacred footprints
    The blue darkness slumbers.

    And I gaze, remembering
    Your downcast eyelashes,
    And the little boy in his white cap,
    Smiling at you.

    English translation © Philip Ross Bullock

  • Sergei Rachmaninoff: Aleko's Cavatina

    All the tribe is asleep. The Moon is high
    And bright with midnight beauty.
    Why is my poor heart trembling?
    What sadness is bothering me?
    Without care or regret
    I lead this traveling way

    Away from the shackles of cultured life

    I am free, like them all.

    I lived denying the power

    Of fate, treacherous and blind,

    But, God, how the passion rules

    My obedient soul.

    Zemfira! How she used to love!

    How tenderly, leaning against me,

    In the deserted silence

    She loved to spend her time.

    How often with her dear babbling,

    And breath-taking kisses,

    My sadness she could

    Chase away in minutes.

    I remember: with bliss and passion

    She then would whisper to me:

    “I love you, I am in your power!

     I am yours, Aleko, forever!”

    I used to forget everything

    When I was listening to her

    And kissed madly

    Her charming eyes,

    The locks of her hair, darker than night,

    Her lips… And she

    Possessed by happiness and passion

    Leaned on me and looked into my eyes…

    And now? Zemfira is unfaithful

    My Zemfira’s forgoten me!

  • Meredith Willson: My White Knight (from The Music Man)

    My white knight
    Not a Lancelot, nor an angel with wings
    Just someone to love me
    Who is not ashamed of a few nice things
    My white knight
    What my heart would say if it only knew how
    Please dear, lead us
    Show me how
    All I want is a plain man
    All I want is a modest man
    A quiet man, a gentle man
    A straightforward and honest man
    To sit with me in a cottage somewhere in the state of Iowa
    And I would like him to be more interested in me
    Than he’s in himself and more interested in us than in me
    And if occasionally he’d ponder
    What makes Shakespeare and Beethoven great
    Him I could love ’til I die
    Him I could love ’til I die

    My white knight
    Not a Lancelot, nor an angel with wings
    Just someone to love me
    Who is not ashamed of a few nice things
    My white knight
    Let me walk with him
    Where the others ride by
    Walk and love him
    ‘Til I die
    ‘Til I die

  • Langston Hughes & Kurt Weill: What Good Would The Moon Be? (From Street Scene)

    I’ve looked in the windows at diamonds
    They’re beautiful but they’re cold
    I’ve seen Broadway stars in fur coats
    That cost a fortune so I’m told
    I guess I’d look nice in diamonds
    And sables might add to my charms
    But if someone I don’t care for should buy them
    I’d rather have two loving arms!

    What good would the moon be
    Unless the right one shared its beams?
    What good would dreams-come-true be
    If love wasn’t in those dreams?
    And a primrose path
    What would be the fun
    Of walking down a path like that
    Without the right one?
    What good would the night be
    Unless thе right lips whisper low
    Kiss me, oh darling, kiss me
    Whilе evening stars still glow?

    No, it won’t be a primrose path for me
    No, it won’t be diamonds and gold
    But maybe it will be
    Someone who’ll love me
    Someone who’ll love just me
    To have and to hold!

  • Frederick Loewe & Alan Jay Lerner: If Ever I would Leave You (From Camelot)
    If ever I would leave youIt wouldn’t be in summerSeeing you in summerI never would goYour hair streaked with sunlightYour lips red as flameYour face with a lustreThat puts gold to shame!
    But if I’d ever leave youIt couldn’t be in autumnHow I’d leave in autumnI never will knowI’ve seen how you sparkleWhen fall nips the airI know you in autumnAnd I must be there
    And could I leave youRunning merrily through the snow?Or on a wintry eveningWhen you catch the fire’s glow?
    If ever I would leave youHow could it be in springtime?Knowing how in spring I’m bewitched by you so?Oh, no! Not in springtime!Summer, winter or fall!No, never could I leave you at all!
  • Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer: On My Own (From Les Misérables)
    On my ownPretending he’s beside meAll aloneI walk with him ’til morningWithout himI feel his arms around meAnd when I lose my way I close my eyesAnd he has found me
    In the rain, the pavement shines like silverAll the lights are misty in the riverIn the darkness, the trees are full of starlightAnd all I see is him and me forever and forever
    And I know it’s only in my mindThat I’m talking to myself and not to himAnd although I know that he is blindStill I say, there’s a way for us
    I love himBut when the night is overHe is goneThe river’s just a riverWithout himThe world around me changesThe trees are bare and everywhereThe streets are full of strangers
    I love himBut every day I’m learningAll my lifeI’ve only been pretendingWithout meHis world will go on turningA world that’s full of happinessThat I have never known
    I love himI love himI love himBut only on my own