Soprano contributes to Black composer's revival
The British soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn, who famously played Bess in “Porgy and Bess” at the Metropolitan Opera, makes her American recital debut in Union College in Schenectady on Sunday afternoon April 2. Her program of songs will show the results of a lifetime of singing and also a considerable amount of library research uncovering some of the repertoire. The concert, a presentation of Capital Region Classical, highlights the music of Samuel ColeridgeTaylor, a Black composer who lived and worked in great Britain during the Victorian era and into the first decade of the 20th century. Llewellyn will open each half of the program with some of his songs before moving to selections by Puccini, R. Strauss and Verdi.
Coleridge-Taylor isn’t a household name but he’s not exactly an unknown either. He was respected and performed during his time and he’s the subject of at least two published biographies. When he toured the United States he was greeted, as we might say today, like a rock star.
Classical music’s recent embrace of Black composers is bringing new prominence to Coleridge-Taylor’s music and Llewellyn’s work as singer and scholar is contributing to that revival. Her first tip about him came from pianist Simon Lepper, who accompanies her in Schenectady. She went looking for his songs which are said to number more than 100, but alas there was no easy access Coleridge-Taylor
British singer Elizabeth Llewellyn will make her U.S. debut at Union College. songbook to be done. I am a nerd by nature, ever found. since I was a child. I love history
“The sleuthing is something and digging into things while you jump into when you’ve got a sitting in a library,” says Llewellyn, project like this that needs to be speaking from her home in
London. Prior to becoming a professional singer, she worked in travel and took great satisfaction in researching and designing tours for groups that had special interests such as art, architecture and the like.
Llewellyn doesn’t claim to have made a definitive list of Coleridge-Taylor’s song output. At a certain point she halted the research and returned with music in hand to her studio where she got to know the material and made selections suitable for her voice. The eventual result became her first solo CD, “Heart and Hereafter: Collected Songs of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor,” released in 2021 on the British label Orchid Classics. It consists of 25 songs, including the cycles “Southern Love Songs” Op. 12, and “Sorrow Songs” Op. 57, both of which are represented on the Schenectady program. In the same season as the CD came out,
she included some of his songs on her Wigmore Hall recital debut.
“He had his own style and voice. The music is obviously Victorian, he was of his time, and it’s lovely and satisfying,” says Llewellyn. She points to the composer’s good taste in poetry and his sensitive settings of Stephen Crane, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Paul Dunbar, among others. “Sorrow Songs,” which opens the concert’s second half, are to lines by Christina Rossetti, a 19th-century poet who was an out lesbian and is today regarded by some as having been a mystic. Llewellyn describes those settings as “showing deep understanding without gilding the lily or overstaying his welcome.”
Llewellyn’s research involved more than just the notes, also the man. “It’s good to put some flesh on the bones,” she says, adding that since his death in 1912 Coleridge-Taylor is often remembered for being as genteel as his songs. She was therefore surprised by the content and tone of some of his letters and speeches.
“People say he was quietly spoken and unassuming and that even on the podium conducting he had the air of a gentleman. But he wrote some pretty stinging articles on racism and in responding to people’s letters he could be graceful but direct,” she observes. “He gets to the heart of a matter without being insulting and when people said stupid things he said so. By 21st century standards, he was an activist.”
He also maintained high musical standards. “Maybe it’s a conductor thing, but he had a low opinion of singers and our musicianship. Plus ça change!” she says was with a laugh, using a French expression for “nothing changes.”
Llewellyn includes on the program some composers who influenced Coleridge-Taylor’s writing. There will be a few minutes of music by his principal teacher, Charles Villiers Stanford, and three songs by Brahms, who Coleridge-Taylor found to be “pioneering,” according to the soprano. She also hears Puccini. “His sense of color makes me think of ‘Boheme’ and ‘La Rondine,” says Llewellyn, who made her operatic debut as Mimi with the English National Opera.
By the way, don’t fret that the recital is going to be one big history lesson. When Llewellyn is onstage she uses her mouth only for singing. “There’s no talking, it’s too tiring. I much prefer to let music speak for itself,” she says.
Speaking of Puccini, he happens to be one of Llewellyn’s specialties, as are Verdi and Richard Strauss. In February she played the title role in the latter’s “Ariadne auf Naxos” at Opera North. Among her Verdi roles are Alice Ford in “Falstaff ” and the title characters in “Aida” and “Luisa Miller.”
Though she’s keeping to the song form and not including any arias on the recital, she’s remaining loyal to these composers and is aware that they’re also audience favorites. “It’s good for people to hear your best stuff,” she says. “The recital allows me to introduce my friend, Coleridge-Taylor, but it also introduces me!”
Elizabeth Llewellyn’s song recital with pianist Simon Lepper is at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 2, at Union College Memorial Chapel in Schenectady. Tickets are $35. Call (518) 941-4331. Or visit: capitalregionclassical.org