“The Last Rose of Summer”

Martha
Music: traditional, arr. by Friedrich von Flotow
Lyrics: Thomas Moore

Renée Fleming, soprano
Robert Ainsley, pianist

Martha (1847) was universally popular well into the twentieth century. Today, however, it’s seldom encountered and is, in fact, the only work for which we remember Friedrich von Flotow (1812-1883). No doubt Martha’s plot caused it to lose favor; it’s difficult to care about any of the principals and their relationships.

Martha is known today solely for two celebrated arias, one of which belongs to the opera’s heroine. Harriet is bored being a lady-in-waiting to England’s Queen Anne. At a country fair, when Harriet and her friend Nancy masquerade as “Martha” and “Julia,” they find themselves hired by two farmers, Plunkett and his foster-brother Lionel, as housemaids. Lionel falls in love with “Martha,” and when they’re alone, he asks her to sing a folk song. In an atypically soulful moment, Harriet responds with a melancholy text set to a gravely beautiful melody, “The Last Rose of Summer.” Flotow’s inspiration came from a famous poem written in 1805 by the Irish poet Thomas Moore.

Soprano

Renée Fleming

Previously at Lyric: Ten roles since1993|94, most recently Hanna Glawari|The Merry Widow(2015|16); CountessMadeleine/Capriccio(2014|15); eight gala concerts;duo recital with Susan Graham.

Renée Fleming, Lyric’s special projects advisor and formerly its first creative consultant, is one of the most beloved and celebrated singers of our time. Winner of the National Medal of Arts (awarded by President Obama at the White House in 2013) and a four-time Grammy® Award winner, Fleming brought her voice to a vast new audience in 2014 as the first classical artist to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl. She has performed at distinguished occasions worldwide, from Oslo’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the Diamond Jubilee Concert for HM Queen Elizabeth II. A groundbreaking distinction came in 2008 when Fleming became the first woman to solo-headline a Metropolitan Opera opening-night gala. Recent achievements include Nettie Fowler/Carousel (Broadway musical debut, Tony Award® nomination); Margaret Johnson/The Light in the Piazza (London, Los Angeles, Chicago); title role/Norma Jeane Baker of Troy (opening of New York City’s newest arts space, The Shed); a virtual solo recital for the Met at Washington’s Dumbarton Oaks; and the latest addition to her extensive discography, a program of songs by Schumann, Brahms, and Mahler.

Photo: Scott Suchman