The second half of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's program on Sunday was clearly focused on the "farewell" aspect of her visit, with songs chosen largely for the specific content of their lyrics. Dame Kiri made sure no one missed the point. After a set of Poulenc came Jake Heggie's "Final Monologue" from Master Class - the piece to which she referred readers in her Globe preview - which includes the following stanza:
The sun will not fall down from the sky
if there are no more Traviatas.
The world can and will go on without us
but I have to think that we have made this world a better place.
That we left it richer, wiser
than had we not chosen the way of art.
and the line:
Besides, it's all there in the recordings.
To make sure no one missed the point, she reminded us in her introduction that Heggie had turned pages for her once upon a time and that "As soon as I heard [the song] I knew it was absolutely appropriate for a woman of my age..."
And when introducing Benjamin Britten's "Evening" she reminded us that was from a set of songs entitled "On the Way to the Tomb."
On the title page of the program was the phrase, "Thank you for holding your applause until after the completion of each set of songs." The polite reminder was entirely and appropriately ignored by the audience throughout the evening. After all, it was also our farewell to her.
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