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The lyrics of the five songs that comprise this cycle of songs for soprano and baritone were assembled from songs that were successful in the 1890s. The idea of composing new music to popular song lyrics nearly one hundred years old intrigued me, as it offered the possibility of merging the popular idiom of the past with a contemporary approach to song composition. Such a style could at the same time borrow from a previous commercial formula yet infuse it with enriched scope of expression through the more elaborate melodic and harmonic treatment found in concert music.
In each case, the verses are elaborate prologues to brief, tuneful choruses. In my settings, I have assigned the role of narrator to the baritone, while the soprano usually assumes the role of Madge, the protagonist. At times the narrator becomes an active character in the verse, while at other times he merely recounts the chain of events as an introduction to the chorus. The first song is for soprano alone, however. In the original settings, each was a solo song, not a duet.
Although the lyrics are rhetorical and formal in tone, I felt it was necessary to respect the intent of the meaning, in spite of the turgidity of the language used in popular songs of the period; hence the serious tone of the music. All of the song lyrics are in the public domain.
The songs were chosen to depict the downfall of the protagonist through a series of unfortunate encounters in her life:
1. I Don't Want to Play In Your Yard (1894) words by Philip Wingate. This is the most famous of the five lyrics. The protagonist recalls her rivalry with a childhood friend.
2. Take Back Your Gold (1897) words by Louis W. Pritzkow. The heroine, Madge is spurned for her hand in marriage by an obviously unworthy suitor.
3. She May Have Seen Better Days (1894) words by James Thornton. A sad commentary on the plight our heroine, who was formerly "respected and honored by all."
4. Just Tell Them That You Saw Me (1895) words by Paul Dresser. Madge tells of her love for her mother while confessing to a childhood friend of her plight. Her formerly good cheer is sadly recalled.
5. In the Baggage Coach Ahead (1896) words by Gussie L. Davis. Madge is dead. Her body is being brought home, accompanied by an infant and husband "of just a few short years."
A piano epilogue ends the cycle, recalling bits of the melodies in each of the four previous songs, as if in a vaguely remembered dream.
I Don't Want to Play In Your Yard
Once there lived side by side, two little maids
Used to dress just alike, hair down in braids
Blue gingham pinafores, stockings of red,
Little sunbonnets tied on each pretty head.
When school was over, secrets they'd tell,
Whispering arm in arm, down by the well.
One day a quarrel came, hot tears were shed:
"You can't play in our yard," but the other said:
I don't want to play in your yard,
I don't like you anymore.
You'll be sorry when you see me,
Sliding down our cellar door.
You can't holler down our rainbarrel,
You can't climb our apple tree;
your yard, if you won't be good to me.
Next day two little maids, each other miss,
Quarrels are soon made up, sealed with a kiss.
Then hand in hand again, happy they go.
Friends all through life to be, they love each other so.
Soon school days pass away, sorrows and bliss
but love remembers yet, quarrels and kiss.
In sweet dreams of childhood we hear the cry:
"You can't play in our yard," and the old reply:
I don't want to play in your yard,
I don't like you anymore.
You'll be sorry when you see me,
Sliding down our cellar door.
You can't holler down our rainbarrel,
You can't climb our apple tree;
your yard, if you won't be good to me.
I saw a youth and maiden on a lonely city street,
and thought them lovers, at their meeting place;
I heard the girl's sad voice entreat
The one who heeded not her tear-stained face.
"I only ask you, Jack, to do your duty, that is all.
You know you promised that we should be wed."
"You shall not want, what ever may befall,"
She spurned the gold he offered her and said:
"Take back your gold, for gold can never buy me;
Take back your bribe, and promise you'll be true;
Give me the love, the love that you'd deny me;
make me your wife, that's all I ask of you!"
He drew her close unto him
and to soothe her then he tried,
But she in pride and sorrow turned away,
And as he sought to comfort her,
she wept and softly sighed,
"You'll rue your cruel actions, Jack, some day."
"Now, little one don't cry," he said
"for though tonight we part,
And though another soon will be my bride,
This gold will help you to forget,"
but with a breaking heart,
she scorned his gift and bitterly replied:
"Take back your gold, for gold can never buy me;
Take back your bribe, and promise you'll be true;
Give me the love, the love that you'd deny me;
make me your wife, that's all I ask of you!"
She May Have Seen Better Days
While strolling along with the city's vast throng,
On a night that was bitterly cold,
I noticed a crowd who were laughing aloud
At something they'd chanced to behold.
I stopped for to see what the object could be,
And there, on a doorstep lay
A woman in tears, from the crowd's angry jeers,
And then I heard somebody say:
She may have seen better days
When she was in her prime.
She may have seen better days,
Tho' by the wayside she fell,
She may yet mend her ways.
Some poor old mother is waiting for her
Who has seen better days.
If we could but tell why the poor creature fell,
Perhaps we'd be not so sever.
If the truth were but known of this outcast alone,
Mayhap we would all shed a tear.
She was once someone's joy, cast aside like a toy,
Abandoned, forsaken, unknown.
Ev'ry man standing by had a tear in his eye,
For some had a daughter at home.
She may have seen better days
When she was in her prime.
She may have seen better days,
Tho' by the wayside she fell,
She may yet mend her ways.
Some poor old mother is waiting for her
Who has seen better days.
The crowd went away, but I longer did stay;
For from her I was loath to depart.
I knew by her moan, as she sat there alone,
That something was breaking her heart.
She told me her life, she was once a good wife,
Respected and honored by all.
Her husband had fled 'ere they were long wed,
And tears down her cheeks sadly fall.
Just Tell Them That You Saw Me
While strolling down the street one eve upon mere pleasure bent,
'Twas after business worries of the day.
I saw a girl who shrank from me in whom I recognized,
My schoolmate in a village far away.
"Is that you, Madge," I said to her; she quickly turned away,
"Don't turn away, Madge, I am still your friend.
Next week I'm going back to see the old folks and I thought
Perhaps some message you would like to send."
Just tell them that you saw me, she said, they'll know the rest,
Just tell them I was looking, well, you know.
Just whisper if you get a chance to mother, dear and say:
I love her as I did long, long ago.
Your cheeks are pale, your face is thin, come tell me were you ill
When last we met your eye shone clear and bright.
Come home with me when I go Madge, the change will do you good
Your mother wonders where you are tonight.
"I long to seem them all again, but not just yet," she said,
"Tis pride alone that's keeping me away."
"Just tell them not to worry, for I'm all right, don't you know,
Tell mother I am coming home some day."
Just tell them that you saw me, she said, they'll know the rest,
Just tell them I was looking, well, you know.
Just whisper if you get a chance to mother, dear and say:
I love her as I did long, long ago.
In the Baggage Coach Ahead
On a dark stormy night, as the train rattled on,
All the passengers had gone to bed.
Except one young man with a babe in his arms
Who sat there with a bowed down head.
The innocent one began crying just then,
As though its poor heart would break.
"Make that child stop its noise,
For its keeping all of us awake!"
"Put it out," said another, "Don't keep it in here.
We've paid for our berths and want rest."
But never a word said the man with the child,
As he fondled it close to his breast.
"Where is its mother, go take it to her,"
This a lady then softly said,
"I wish that I could" was the man's sad reply,
"But she's dead in the coach ahead."
While the train rolled onward a husband sat in tears,
Thinking of the happiness of just a few short years.
For baby's face brings pictures
of a cherished hope that's dead,
But baby's cries can't waken her
in the baggage coach ahead.
Ev'ry eye filled with tears, when his story he told,
Of a wife who was faithful and true.
He told who he saved all his earnings for years,
just to build up a home for two.
How, when heaven had sent them
Their young happy lives were blessed.
His heart seemed to break
when he mentioned her name,
And, in tears tried to tell them the rest.
Ev'ry woman arose to assist with the child,
There were mothers and wives on that train
And soon was the little one sleeping in peace,
With no thought of sorrow or pain.
Next morn' at the station he bade all goodbye,
"God bless you" he softly said.
Each one had a story to tell in their home
Of the baggage coach ahead.
While the train rolled onward a husband sat in tears,
Thinking of the happiness of just a few short years.
For baby's face brings pictures
of a cherished hope that's dead,
But baby's cries can't waken her
in the baggage coach ahead.
The conception for my Piano Sextet originated with a desire to return to purely instrumental composition after a period of time in which I had composed mainly electronic music. The structure of the four movements derives from traditional formal designs: sonata-allegro, scherzo and rondo are used in the first, third and fourth movements, while the second movement is a rondo based upon two Bach quotes: the Sarabande from the Sixth Suite for solo cello, and the well-known two-part keyboard Invention in E Major. The use of traditional devices is something I like to do every so often to help me redefine my relationship with the past, as well as to reach out for new directions into the future.
The first movement is complex and busy, with swirling patterns in the strings and piano accompanying a long-lined theme that is half-way between the keys of b minor and G Major. This tonal dichotomy is the main harmonic device of the entire piece, and is found in all four movements. After much "debate," the movement cadences on a unison "B," in neither the major or minor modes.
Movement two begins on the same note and moves quickly to a more stable and relaxed B Major. There are references (via the Bach quotations) to an approximation of an eighteenth century style, but in the end the joining of the two Bach themes with the original material culminates in a fusion of melodic and harmonic ideas within the florid style of the first movement.
The third movement is a scherzo with trio in D Major/b minor. The first section is marked "joyously," and is exuberant and purposeful in tone. The trio section is preceded by a tremulous, misterioso transition, leading to a rhapsodic melody in the first violin that is repeated twice again by the other strings, each time gaining in intensity. After this section fades the transition appears again, leading to a repeat of the opening scherzo. After a brief recapitulation, the transition section occurs a third time, leading without a break into the last movement, subtitled "Gypsy Rondo."
This final movement is an homage to the similarly-placed movement of the Brahms Piano Quartet, Op. 25, which has a rousing finale in the Hungarian/Gypsy style in g minor the same key I have chosen. Just before the end, there is a brief return to the first movement. The movement is spirited and virtuosic, and is intended as a display piece for the ensemble, to be played in the grand manner!
Stephen Dankner attended New York University, Queens College, and The Juilliard School where he received his Doctor of Musical Arts. His principal composition teachers were Roger Sessions and Vincent Persichetti. Dankner has composed over fifty works including music for synthesizers, computers and solo instruments. Mr. Dankner was the recipient of the 1983-84 Louisiana State Arts Council Fellowship in Music. Currently he is Chairman of the Music Department of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, an arts high school in New Orleans, and also teaches both undergraduate and graduate advanced music theory, composition and electronic/computer music at Loyola University's College of Music. The composer has released three recordings of his works, and was commissioned by the Audubon Institute to compose a state-of-the-art computer-controlled electronic music installation to be part of the permanent exhibitry for the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans. His most recently completed compositions include concerti for violoncello and piano and two string quartets.
Ellen Phillips Frohnmayer and Philip Frohnmayer are a rare breed, two solo singers who have devoted themselves to excellence as duettists. Researching and performing the neglected duet repertoire is a passion of the Frohnmayers, but they each have fine careers in their own right. After graduation from Beloit, Ms. Frohnmayer earned a degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, studying there with Margaret Harshaw, Dino Yannopoulos, and Christofer Macatsoris. Her successes at the Marlboro Festival and the Central City Opera led to her European career, where she sang as a leading lyric soprano in several German opera houses. Mr. Frohnmayer, educated at Harvard University, the University of Oregon, and the Stuttgart Hochschule fur Musik, counts the late Martial Singher as his greatest mentor. After his victory in the Munich Competition in 1976, Mr. Frohnmayer sang many European engagements in opera, concert, and radio. Mr. Frohnmayer is Chairman of Vocal Studies at Loyola University in New Orleans. The two artists were first cast together in performances of Fidelio, and soon afterwards their paths crossed again when they were hired to sing a program of love duets for Southwest German Radio in Baden Baden. Now residents of New Orleans, they tour regularly with duet recitals.
H. Jac McCracken, pianist, is an associate professor of music at Loyola University, where he has taught piano and music literature since 1976. He is a graduate of East Carolina University and the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Robert Carter and Raymond Dudley. Mr. McCracken also has studied privately with Rudolph Ganz and Byron Janis, and in 1969 was awarded a performing fellowship at the International Bach Society Summer Study Session under the direction of Rosalyn Tureck. In 1970, he received a Fulbright-Hayes grant to Italy where he studied chamber music with Guido Agosti at the Academia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and private piano with Ilonka Deckers in Milan.
Mr. McCracken has performed extensively throughout the United States and in Europe, including orchestral appearances. He is the pianist for the Loyola Piano Quartet.
Recording Engineer (Songs of Bygone Days): Douglas Ferguson · Recording Engineer (Piano Sextet): Douglas Ferguson and Brad Palmer · The recording was made in the Louis J. Roussel Performance Hall on the campus of Loyola University of the South, The College of Music, New Orleans, Louisiana.
I Don't Want to Play In Your Yard (4:18)
Take Back Your Gold (4:02)
She May Have Seen Better Days (5:05)
Just Tell Them That You Saw Her (4:51)
In the Baggage Coach Ahead (7:35)
Ellen Frohnmayer, soprano · Philip Frohnmayer, baritone
Valerie Poullette, violin; Eric Tanner, violin; Michael Gyurik, viola; Allen Nisbet, cello; Robert Kassinger, contrabass; Logan Skelton, piano
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