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Ancestral Voices | Walter Hall, Toronto
Music in the life and family history of the Hon. Victoria Woods (1917-2007), a dear friend and fervent supporter of the Aldeburgh Connection

date: April 27, 2008

The father of Mrs Victoria Woods (“Tordie” to her friends) was the 5th Earl of Sheffield and 5th Baron Stanley of Alderley  –  she was born in Melbourne, Australia, where he was Governor of Victoria.  On her mother’s side, she was descended from the famous Kemble family, with a host of theatrical and musical members, including Sarah Siddons, Fanny Kemble and the 19th century opera singer, Adelaide Kemble.  The latter was a friend of the painter, Lord Leighton, whose portrait of her daughter, May Sartoris  –  our friend’s grandmother  –  is a jewel of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.  Also through her mother, Tordie was a second cousin of the famous Mitford sisters (Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah); in later life, she would frequently visit Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, at Chatsworth.  All of these fascinating connections gave us ample scope for building a concert which stretched from the 16th to the 20th centuries and in which operatic repertoire figured, perhaps, more than in our regular programmes.  This was because Tordie’s husband, Jade Woods, had been an early president of the Festival Opera Company of Toronto (later the Canadian Opera Company), and she herself was a staunch enthusiast for the COC until the end of her life.

Song	Artist	Composer	Poet
Gavotte	Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano	Howells, Herbert	Newbolt, Sir Henry
Blow thi horne hunter	Albino, Laura, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Barrett, Michael, tenor; Ubukata, Bruce, baritone; Ralls, Stephen, piano	Cornysh, William	Wyatt, Sir Thomas
Have you seen but a whyte Lillie grow?	Albino, Laura, soprano; Ralls, Stephen, piano	Johnson, Robert ?	Jonson, Ben
She never told her love	Barrett, Michael, tenor; Ubukata, Bruce, piano	Haydn, Franz Joseph	Shakespeare, William
Thus, when a good huswife sees a Rat (The Beggar’s Opera)	Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano	anon.	Gay, John
The Mermaids’ Song (Oberon)	Albino, Laura, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano	Weber, Carl Maria von	Planché, James Robinson
Rondo (Sonata in E flat, Op.51)	Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano	Hummel, Johann Nepomuk	n/a
Adelaide, Op.46	Barrett, Michael, tenor; Ralls, Stephen, piano	Beethoven, Ludwig van	Matthison, Friedrich von
Wilt thou be gone, love?	Albino, Laura, soprano; Barrett, Michael, tenor; Ralls, Stephen, piano	Foster, Stephen	anon.
Voi che sapete (Le nozze di Figaro, K492)	Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano	Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus	Ponte, Lorenzo da
Schilflied, Op.71/4	Albino, Laura, soprano; Ralls, Stephen, piano	Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix	Lenau, Nikolaus
To Anthea, who may command him anything	Barrett, Michael, tenor; Ralls, Stephen, piano	Hatton, John Liptrott	Herrick, Robert
Si, fine all’ore estreme (Norma)	Albino, Laura, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano	Bellini, Vincenzo	Romani, Felice
INTERMISSION
What are the wild waves saying?	Albino, Laura, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano	Glover, Stephen	anon.
Je veux vivre (Roméo et Juliette)	Albino, Laura, soprano; Ralls, Stephen, piano	Gounod, Charles	Barbier, Jules / Carré, Michel
Lisa Lân	Barrett, Michael, tenor; Ralls, Stephen, piano	Welsh folksong	anon.
The Birds	Albino, Laura, soprano; Ubukata, Bruce, piano	Warlock, Peter	Belloc, Hilaire
My own country	Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ubukata, Bruce, piano	Warlock, Peter	Belloc, Hilaire
Brightly dawns our wedding day: Madrigal (The Mikado)	Albino, Laura, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Barrett, Michael, tenor; Ralls, Stephen, baritone; Ubukata, Bruce, piano	Sullivan, Sir Arthur	Gilbert, Sir William Schwenck
Children of the Ritz (Words and Music)	Albino, Laura, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Ralls, Stephen, piano	Coward, Noël	Coward, Noël
Come you not from Newcastle?	Albino, Laura, soprano; Ubukata, Bruce, piano	English folksong, arr. Britten, Benjamin	anon.
Oh! what pain it is to part! (The Beggar’s Opera)	Albino, Laura, soprano; Barrett, Michael, tenor; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano	anon., arr. Austin, Frederic	anon.
Were I laid on Greenland’s coast (The Beggar’s Opera)	Albino, Laura, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Barrett, Michael, tenor; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano	anon., arr. Austin, Frederic	anon.
The sun, whose rays are all ablaze (The Mikado)   – ENCORE	Albino, Laura, soprano; Burgess, Norine, mezzo; Barrett, Michael, tenor; Ralls, Stephen / Ubukata, Bruce, piano	Sullivan, Sir Arthur	Gilbert, Sir William Schwenck