Philharmonic Chamber Music Recital

Sombre emotions resonate from the songs of Johannes Brahms, which are based on texts from William Shakespeare‘s »Hamlet«, and Paul Hindemith‘s »Melancholia« inspired by poems about loneliness by Christian Morgenstern. Aribert Reimann‘s transcription of the Brahms songs for voice and string quartet remains loyal to the romantic original. Although Bartók and Mozart did not base their string quartets around a particular narrative, the emotional gestures they convey relate directly to the song compositions: At the time of writing his work, Bartók was tormented by his unrequited love for the violinist Stefi Geyer. In fact, in a letter to her he even described the first movement as a »mourning lament«. Mozart‘s composition dates from 1782, a rather fateful year for the Classical period that marked a young generation of new artists breaking onto the scene. Set within the context of Friedrich Schiller premiering his play »Die Räuber«and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe publishing his famous »Erlkönig« poem, Mozart‘s composition can be seen as a new departure, as it were, towards a drama that also found expression in purely instrumental music.