Wednesday 16 October 2019

In the autumn of 2018, we invited to Brahmsfest with four concerts entirely dedicated to Johannes Brahms' music. In this year's edition, we also put Brahms at the center, while at the same time highlighting two people who were close to him in various ways and who influenced him personally and musically – Clara and Robert Schumann. Johannes Brahms was Robert Schumann's protégé. Schumann saw Brahms as the savior of German music.

While the two were close friends, Brahms was in love with Schumann's wife, the pianist and composer Clara. In 1855 he wrote to her—I can think of nothing but you—what have you done to me? She was then 35 years old and famous, he was 21 years old and more infamous than famous. Clara was at the same time Robert's muse and great love. When Robert Schumann tried to commit suicide and was hospitalized due to his mental illness, Brahms moved in with Clara and the seven children in Düsseldorf. When Robert died in 1856, Clara and Brahms were given the freedom to do what they wanted, but then Brahms said thank you and goodbye and went back to Hamburg. They stayed in touch for the rest of their lives anyway, and Brahms often sent her his compositions to get her honest feedback.

Brahms's charming Liebesliederwalzers are collections of love songs written in a folk style, without the composer taking it lightly. The text is taken from the German poet Georg Friedrich Daumer's Polydora, a collection of folk songs and love poems. The sentimental lyrics are full of longing, sadness, joy and rapture.

His Hungarian dances are lively, popular and based on Hungarian folk music. Clara Schumann took great pleasure in giving gifts to her husband on special occasions, and for his 38th birthday Robert Schumann received the composition Abendfeier in Venedig. Spanische Liebeslieder is the second of Robert Schumann's two song cycles based on Spanish folk songs, and like the first, it was taken from a collection of German translations by Emanuel Geibel.

Edvard Grieg Choir
Christian Ihle Hadland, piano
Polina Leschenko, piano

Johannes Brahms
Liebesliederwalzer for choir and four-handed piano

Robert Schumann
Vorspiel I, from Spanische Liebeslieder, No. 1, Op. 138

Robert Schumann
Es ist verraten, from Spanisches Liederspiel, no. 5, op. 74

Robert Schumann
Ich bin geliebt, No. 9 op. 75

Robert Schumann
Dunkler Lichtglanz, No. 10, Op. 138

Robert Schumann
Vorspiel II, from Spanische Liebeslieder, No. 6, Op. 138

Robert Schumann
From Bilder aus Osten, no. 4, op. 66, for four-handed piano

Johannes Brahms
Hungarian Dance No. 20 in B minor, for four-handed piano

Robert Schumann
2nd movement, Langsam, from the Violin Concerto in D minor, arranged for four-handed piano

Clara Schumann
Abendfeier in Venedig, for a cappella choir

Johannes Brahms
Neues Liebeslieder, op. 65, for choir and four-handed piano