Matinee Christoph and Julian Prégardien
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI Tempro la cetra from the 7th madrigal book
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI Dormo ancora o son desto? from Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI Cara lieta Gioventu from Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI Oh padre sospirato! from Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI Lieto cammino from Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI Possente spirto from L’Orfeo
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI Saliam cantando al Cielo from L’Orfeo
FRANZ SCHUBERT An die Leier, Op. 56 No. 2, D. 737 – poem by Franz Seraph Ritter von Bruchmann after Anacreon
FRANZ SCHUBERT Fahrt zum Hades, D. 526 – poem by Johann Baptiste Mayrhofer
FRANZ SCHUBERT Der zürnenden Diana, D. 707
FRANZ SCHUBERT Gruppe aus dem Tartarus, D. 583
FRANZ SCHUBERT Ganymed, Op. 19 No. 3, D. 544 – poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
FRANZ SCHUBERT An Schwager Kronos, D. 369
FRANZ SCHUBERT Die Götter Griechenlands, D. 677 – poem by Friedrich Schiller
FRANZ SCHUBERT Freiwilliges Versinken, D. 700 – poem by Johann Mayrhofer
FRANZ SCHUBERT Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren op. 65/1, D. 360
FRANZ SCHUBERT Erlkönig, Op. 1, D. 328 – poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Print programme (PDF)
In the world of the gods, father-son relationships – such as Uranus and Cronus, or Cronus and Zeus – were in some cases by no means unproblematic. One positive exception is Apollo, who not only gave his son Orpheus the famous lyre with which, despite Charon’s opposition, he gained access to the Underworld, but also stayed by Orpheus’s side when he lost his Eurydice for the second time. This, at least, is how Claudio Monteverdi describes it in the first opera in musical history. Apollo manages to convince Orpheus that true happiness can only be achieved in immortality, and the two of them – singing highly virtuoso coloraturas – soar to the heavens, where Orpheus’s lyre is also transformed into a constellation.
Odysseus has erred throughout the world for 20 years, a plaything of the gods and at the mercy of their internal disagreements. When he returns, he can rejoice not only in the unalloyed fidelity and solidarity of his wife Penelope, but also of his son Telemachus, with whose help he defeats all his opponents.
While Monteverdi, in 1607, had his audience experience Orpheus begging to be allowed to enter the realm of the dead, just over 200 years later, Franz Schubert describes how we should imagine the journey to Hades. His lesser-known songs on mythical themes set to texts by Goethe, Schiller or his friend Mayrhofer, contain dramatic descriptions, including that of Zeus’s pursuit of Ganymede, the beautiful Trojan prince, or of Actaeon, the hunter, spying on Diana as she bathes.