As appropriate for the occasion, the University of Tennessee at Martin music faculty members Dr. Roberto Mancusi and Dr. Chan-Mi Jean entranced audiences with musical arrangements of woe and recovery.

The faculty recital was titled Remembering and was performed at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 11, in the Blankenship Recital Hall.

While not explicitly themed after 9-11, Dr. Mancusi came up with the title when he noticed that his recital was scheduled on the same date as the fateful terrorist attacks on the United States. As a means of recognizing the occasion, Mancusi decided to dedicate the first portion of the recital to the very idea of moving on and rebuilding.

“These songs…really seem to embrace both the theme and the mood that I wanted to create,” Mancusi said in his program notes.

The first of these songs was Hier ist das rechte Osterlamm from Christ lag in Todesbanden, written by the famous classical composer Johann Sebastian Bach. This classical German piece recounted the sacrifice of the “proper Easter lamb,” beginning with a more menacing composition and ending triumphantly with repeated articulations of the word “Hallelujah!” Mancusi’s bass range complemented the piece spectacularly as he recited its woeful lyrics to Jean’s masterful accompaniment.

The next piece performed was titled Vier ernste Gesänge, a composition written by the legendary Johannes Brahms that included four pieces titled Denn es gehet dem Menschen, Ich wandte mich, und sahe, O Tod, wie bitter bist du and Wenn ich mit Menschen. According to Mancusi’s program notes, the first two sections translate to “For Man Fares” and “I Turned and Saw,” which emote Brahms’s negative feelings towards life as he begins to accept his fate, with biblical phrases from the book of Ecclesiastes such as “All are made of dust and will to dust return.” Mancusi sang the beginning pieces with solemn eloquence and was well supported by Jean’s expert shifts in tempo, starting the first section with a soft, slow rhythm before sharply transitioning into a frantic, menacing tune.

The next two sections, which are translated as “O Death, How Bitter You Are” and “If I Spoke with the Tongues of Men,” carry a more appreciative tone as Brahms came to terms with his life, paraphrasing Bible verses such as 1 Corinthians 13:13 as a way to establish the importance of faith, hope and love. Mancusi sang these pieces with a low melancholy style, articulating each lyric with appropriate projection and vibrato, before finishing off with a joyous finale. Jean continued to glide across the piano keys, transitioning seamlessly between each change in tempo yet again.

After a brief intermission, Mancusi and Jean recited Italian compositions for the remainder of the night.

“I didn’t want everything to be just down and gloomy, so the second half I decided,  you know, we went on our Italy travel study, and I was like, we’re going to be remembering that too,” Mancusi said.

The next piece was titled Your Worship, may Heaven bless you, and originated from an opera, Falstaff, written by Giuseppe Verdi. For this piece, Jean and Mancusi were accompanied by vocalist and UT Martin alum Darius Taylor, a Jackson resident who graduated with a Bachelor of Music and Performance in fall 2018. In this piece, Mancusi and Taylor sang together as a comedic duo of sorts, as they practically bickered in song. Both men sang excellently to Jean’s accompaniment, acquiring many laughs from the audience throughout the run of the scene.

Following this song, Mancusi and Jean performed a roster of other pieces, including Visione Veneziana by Renato Brogi, Mattinata by Ruggiero Leoncavallo, O sole mio by Eduardo di Capua, Torna à Surriento by Ernesto di Curtis and Non tí scordar di me.

At the end of the recital, Mancusi surprised the audience with an encore song, Ol’ Man River by Jerome Kern, which he performed at the request of UT Martin Vice Chancellor of Engagement and Accessibility, Dr. Mark McCloud. Mancusi and Jean completed the song and took their final bows to much applause.

After the recital, Darius Taylor explained why he came back to perform for this specific recital.

“What brought me back was Dr. Mancusi. He was my teacher while I was here and he is currently my mentor, one of my mentors,”  Taylor said. “He had the idea of us singing together for this and I immediately jumped on it, no hesitation.”

Mancusi shared some thoughts about what the word “remembering” meant to him as an individual with German and Italian heritage.

“My grandmother was born in Germany. My [Italian] grandfather was the first generation of his family to be born in America. He died when I was about seven, but I have always felt very close to him…whenever I perform, I carry his rosary in my pocket. Performing this recital gives me a way to musically remember them too.”

If there is one thing for sure, this recital was one to be remembered.

The recital can be viewed here: