This concert is a celebration of Alex Fokkens' 10 year anniversary as Music Director of The Symphony Choir.
The Liebeslieder are two sets of relatively short but delightful pieces arranged for various combinations of the four voice parts and accompanied by four hands on one piano. The songs are all in 3/4 time except for the last one of the later set, which is in 9/4 time. Although they were originally envisaged as a work for four soloists, Brahms himself endorsed its performance by four-part-mixed choir. The pianists will be François du Toit and Tertia Visser-Downie, conducted by Musical Director Alexander Fokkens.
Brahms was definitely not indifferent to women, but his interactions with them were exceedingly complex. Having been welcomed into the home of Robert and Clara Schumann, Clara became the total love of his life. Yet he had dalliances and, pertinent to the Liebeslieder, he became infatuated with Clara's daughter, Julie. The songs Brahms set were written, in his mind, about her, or to her or to his dreams of her. His feelings for Julie were not reciprocated: she married, and Brahms was devastated - and his musical response was the Alto Rhapsody, which he described as the epilogue to the Liebeslieder.
The premiere of the complete Liebeslieder Op 52 was given in Vienna in January 1870: Brahms and Clara were the pianists. In 1874, following the popularity of the first set, Brahms completed another set, the Neue Liebeslieder Op 65. These are in contrast to the original set, as they are very much about the sometimes regretful aftermath of loving.
Tickets R110 through Computicket.
