Romantic Europe comes alive through music
May 7th, 2010 - 12:03 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, May 7 (IANS) The romance of 19th century Europe came alive here Thursday evening through the music of immortal composers Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumman, Johannes Brahms and Richard Strauss.
A live piano concerto hosted by German Ambassador Thomas Matussek’s wife Ulla, an accomplished musician herself besides being a Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi dancer, took the diplomatic bonhomie between Germany and India, which share multifaceted ties, to a more sublime level when the select audience comprising senior bureaucrats, members of the diplomatic corps, socialites and journalists broke into spontaneous applause at the end of the one-and-a-half hour event.
The concert divided into two segments featured arias by Johann Sebastian Bach.
A piano solo, “Nun Freut euch, Lieben Christen gmein (Rejoice, Beloved Christians)” stood out for its deft rendition. It was followed by a solo concerto on flute, “Fanstasie Pastorale Hongroise” by Francois Doppler.
The second part of the show offered the audience a spread of music from the romanctic era composers Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Strauss.
The romantic era in German classical music was shaped by the numerous socio-political events and new thoughts that were emerging in the 19th century. Composers broke new ground and the music were mostly personal expressions of emotions. Romanticism derives its name from medieval history - drawing its spell-binding power from long poems about chivalry, love and heroism.
During this period, many turned to Germanic folk stories to compose music for operas.
The cast of artists included Mikhail Ushinin (orchestral flute), Andrei Demidenko (pianoforte) and Ulla Matussek (soprano).
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Tags: 19th century europe, bonhomie, demidenko, diplomatic corps, folk stories, franz schubert, german ambassador, germanic folk, johann sebastian bach, johannes brahms, new ground, new thoughts, personal expressions, piano concerto, richard strauss, robert schumman, socialites, solo concerto, spontaneous applause, thomas matussek
