This year marks the important anniversaries of two of the world’s great opera masters, Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, both born in 1813. To commemorate their 210th anniversary, Lieder Company Prague has decided to hold a concert of their songs. This will be complemented by songs by other opera composers Vincenzo Bellini and Giacomo Puccini, who is rightly considered the second greatest creator of Italian opera after Verdi.
The interpretation will be performed by soloists of the National Theatres in Prague and Brno: soprano Jana Sibera, last year’s winner of the Thalia Award, and mezzo-soprano Jana Hrochová. Jan Dušek, pianist and composer, will sit at the piano. The concert will take place on Sunday 5 March at 7.30 p.m. in the Great Hall of the New Town Hall.
The song works of the aforementioned authors are often overshadowed by their predominantly operatic works, although they hide valuable works of strong emotionality. With few exceptions, they are rarely performed on concert stages. All the composers apply their own compositional methods and expressive means, which we know from their operas. A compelling story or lyrical mood often unfolds in a small space. It is not uncommon for the song genre in particular to have served as a sketchbook for these authors, and many song ideas then appear elaborated in larger works.
This is precisely the case with two songs from Richard Wagner’s cycle Five Songs for Female Voice, which are performed in their original version with piano1. These songs were described by the composer himself as sketches for Tristan, and we then recognise their musical material in the duet in Act II and the overture to Act III. The masterful song cycle was written to texts by the wife of his supporter and patron Mathilde Wesendonck, for whom Wagner apparently became so enamoured with platonic love in 1857 that he interrupted work on Siegfried to compose this cycle and the aforementioned opera Tristan und Isolde.
The same is true of Puccini’s songs, which are echoed in the famous Tosca and other operas. Both Bellini and Verdi remain true to their melodicism and brilliant handling of the text in their numerous song works, and the occasional use of virtuoso vocal elements adds to the brilliance of these songs.
It is the intimacy of the song recital that allows the unique musical treasures of these greats to shine through more intensely than on the stage of a great theatre. Listeners thus have the opportunity to experience the leading Czech singers in closer contact, in more intimate expression and more subtle vocal nuances.
It is the intimacy of the song recital that allows the unique musical treasures of these greats to shine through more intensely than on the stage of a great theatre. Listeners thus have the opportunity to experience the leading Czech singers in closer contact, in more intimate expression and more subtle vocal nuances.
[1] They are more often performed in an orchestral version, but the first was created by Felix Mottl and the second by H. W. Henze in 1976.
