Repertoire

Through the year

A journey through the four seasons in word and music from Mozart to Modernism

We’ll take our audience along on an entertaining journey through the year, with songs, duets, piano pieces and literary texts. The programme illustrates how our thoughts and feelings, customs and traditions as well as our dreams and desires have always been influenced and accompanied by play and the change of nature and the weather.

The programme includes works by W. A. Mozart, F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, R. Schumann, F. Schubert, J. Brahms, E. Grieg, F. Liszt, C. Debussy, G. Mahler, W. Herrmann and others.

The duration and contents of the performance can be adapted to our hosts’ individual requirements. We can arrange for concerts from 30 minutes up to two hours (including a 15-minute break). more (German version only)

Lads and lassies gay

Antonín Dvořák: Strains from Moravia Opus 32, 13 Duets for soprano, contralto and piano
Willy Herrmann: German Folk Songs, Opus 143, Duets with piano accompaniment

It was the popular tone pervading these pieces, which even in the most dreamlike passages never loose firm touch to the ground, and which come along in a very expressive manner, that eventually stimulated our study of these two lovely duet cycles. It was also the marvelous alliance of tradition and modernity which is particularly present in the arrangements of Willy Herrmann, but can as well be realized in Dvořáks 13 duets. Come along with us to the little villages on the banks of the Danube river, the cornfields and forests of Moravia, into the deep, dark valleys of northern spinneys and onto breezy hilltops. We invite you to join us in a journey of all five senses into worlds and epochs long forgotten, when it seemed to be easier to make wishes, and when real dancing, laughing, crying, sowing, harvesting, awakening and dreaming had still been part of everyday life.

The duration of this programme is between 50 min and an hour.

What drives the hunter to the forest?

Treasures of chamber music for voice, horn and piano

In Emma’s song, for which Louis Spohr composed an accompaniment for horn and pianoforte, the answer is, “It’s love that drives him”, and the piece is to be performed “with verve”. This inspired a cheerful, but reflective programme of songs, duets and pieces for voice, horn and piano as well as for solo horn, which interweaves themes of hunting and fishing with the too well-known ones of love and desire.

The programme includes works by F. Schubert, J. Brahms, G. Rossini, G. Donizetti, L. Spohr, C. Kreutzer, F. Lachner, R. Strauss and others.

According to our hosts’ individual requirements, we will arrange for concerts from 60 minutes up to one and a half hours (including a break as requested).

‘It seemed as if he had said: I am forever yours’

The programme draws together the plot of Robert Schumann’s (1810-1856) song cycle ‘A woman’s love and life’, opus 42, with poems by Adelbert von Chamisso (1781-1838) and modern prose with very similar content. All of this is embedded in piano music by Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849).

The programme takes about an hour and 15 minutes and will usually be performed without a break. Of course, everything can be arranged otherwise according to our hosts’ individual requirements.

‘High and towering Rimastream’

They can often be found in art and literature, where they usually represent magicians and sages or act as marginal and rather exotic characters or outcasts: the “Gypsies”. The most famous one of them is certainly the mysterious Spanish beauty, Carmen, from Prosper Mérimée’s (1803-1870) novella of the same title, who encouraged George Bizet (1838-1875) to compose his most popular opera.

A great deal of folklore surrounds the Sinti and the Roma, as the Gypsies should be correctly called. This folklore both stigmatizes them and fascinates us at the same time. We know very little about their cultural roots and most of us would find it difficult to relate to their way of life.

We'd like to think that this programme will contribute to looking at this theme in a sympathetic way, so that we shed light on common misconceptions. We'll do this by exploring the works of Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) and Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) as well as rather modern composers and a selection of texts of various periods and genre. Read more

The duration and contents of the performance can be adapted to our hosts’ individual needs. We can arrange for concerts from 45 minutes up to two hours (including breaks).

Last but not least

We’re happy to prepare programmes for a range of different occasions tailored to our host’s requirements. We generally work to a standard repertoire but we’re always open to embracing new ideas.