Chopin writes from Minorca about his being marooned in strangeness… Mozart complains to his father and rages at his treatment at the hands
of a Viennese nobleman… Schubert quotes Gretchen’s song at the
spinning wheel in his deep depression at his loneliness and lack of
success… J. S. Bach sends a formal epistle to the Leipzig authorities
insisting his proper fees… The dying Debussy writes from the hospital
and mingles his personal despair with references to the war going on
Europe… Puccini’s desi…re to escape the confines of Paris and
Schumann’s loving letter to his fiancee Clara…
Guitarist Francesco Teopini and soprano Jasmine Law bring you an
evening of works for voice and guitar, featuring composers from the
20th century. A highlight on the programme is a local premiere of
Dominick Argento’s song cycle Letters from Composers (1968).
“I’m more interested in character than I am in story,” the Pulitzer
Prize winner Argento once told a journalist. In these fascinating
character-studies of the personalities who wrote them, the composer
responds to epistolary prose from seven different composers, never
intended to be set to music.
Other pieces to be performed include guitar solos by Jaques
Ibert and Francis Poulenc, and another local premiere of the evening –
the delightfully clever Folksong Arrangements vol. 6 (English Folksongs,
1961) by Benjamin Britten.
This concert features the human voice along with the guitar in
an intimate and cozy recital setting. Each of the selected pieces are
unique musical pastiches in their own right. A sophisticated evening not
to be missed!Tickets: https://rapsovoce.ticketbud.com/letters-from-composers