Brahms. Wagner. Bruckner

Featuring:
Miina-Liisa VÄRELÄ (soprano)
Liepāja Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Andris POGA

Programme:

Part I

Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897) The Tragic Overture

Richard WAGNER (1813-1883) Wesendonck Songs

            I.   The Angel
            II.  Be still!
            III. In the Greenhouse
            IV.  Sorrows
            V.   Dreams

Part II

Anton BRUKNER (1824-1896) Symphony D minor (“Die Nullte”)

            I.   Allegro
            II.  Andante
            III. Scherzo: Presto
            IV.  Finale: Moderato

Three of the most significant composers of the second half of the 19th century, whose music is characterized by rich harmonies, complex melodies, and strong emotions and who have significantly influenced the further development of symphonic music – Johannes Brahms, Richard Wagner and Anton Bruckner, will come together in one concert.

Andris Poga will take the place at the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra conductor's desk, while the special guest of the concert will be the Finnish soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä.

MIINA-LIISA VÄRELÄ

“Miina-Liisa Värelä is currently proving to be one of the most promising sopranos in the dramatic field and is increasingly appearing on the larger opera stages.”

(Opernmagazin, March 2022)

Soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä has risen to prominence through recent acclaimed performances including as Die Färberin in two new stagings of Die Frau ohne Schatten: at renowned Festspielhaus Baden-Baden with conductor Kirill Petrenko conducting Berliner Philharmoniker, and at Semperoper Dresden under Christian Thielemann. Hailed as one of the most promising sopranos in the dramatic field by Opernmagazin, Miina-Liisa Värelä ​“was pearly-voiced and intimate in a way one rarely hears in this role” in Wagner’s monumental Tristan und Isolde in which she has appeared with Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel and under Robin Ticciati at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and at London’s BBC Proms.

Other recent successes on the opera stage include Värelä’s debut as Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio under Johannes Debus at Canadian Opera Company, the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos both at Gran Teatre del Liceu under Josep Pons, and at Finnish National Opera under Hannu Lintu as well as Ortrud in Wagner’s Lohengrin at Salzburg Landestheater and Oper Frankfurt. In Die Frau ohne Schatten, she has further appeared in productions at Oper Frankfurt, Bayerische Staatsoper, and at the Verbier Festival. At Finnish National Opera, she sang Sieglinde in the new production of Die Walküre and she portrayed the title role in Strauss’ Elektra at Landestheater Linz. Equally comfortable in the roles of the Italian repertoire, recent debuts as both Tosca at The Savonlinna Festival, conducted by Lorenzo Passerini, and as Turandot at Finnish National Opera under Hannu Lintu, were met with universal acclaim.

A native of Finland, Värelä is a graduate of Helsinki’s renowned Sibelius Academy and has taken prizes in competitions including at Lappeenranta and Belvedere.

RICHARD WAGNER (1813-1883)
Wesendonck songs (1857–1858)

Richard Wagner's works, especially his later compositions, are distinguished by their complex textures, rich harmonies and orchestration, and the sophisticated use of leitmotifs – musical phrases associated with characters, places, ideas, or plot elements. His musical language has influenced the development of classical music, and Wagner's Wesendonck Songs are considered one of Wagner's most significant vocal works and are loved both among singers and listeners. 

The songs are settings of poems by Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of one of Richard Wagner's patrons. Wagner had become acquainted with Otto Wesendonck in Zürich, where he had fled on his escape from Saxony after the May Uprising in Dresden in 1849. For a time, Wagner and his wife Minna lived together in the Asyl (German for Asylum in the sense of “sanctuary”), a small cottage on the Wesendonck estate. It is sometimes claimed that Wagner and Mathilde had a love affair; in any case, the situation and mutual infatuation certainly contributed to the intensity in the conception of “Tristan und Isolde”.

The five-song cycle created with the poems by Mathilde Wesendonck is made keeping the romantic style and reflects themes such as love, longing and the beauty of nature. The songs are notable for expressive melodies, rich harmony and gorgeous orchestrations.

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897)
The Tragic overture (1880)

Johannes Brahms is another notable symphonist of the 19th century. His music is characterized by melodiousness, rich harmony and deep emotions, as well as respect for classical traditions, while incorporating innovative trends of the Romantic era. Brahms's Tragic Overture is created in a dramatic and tumultuous style. The overture is characterized by dark and mysterious harmonies and reflects the struggle between good and evil, light and darkness, and the inevitability of human destiny.

One of his most notable works is The Tragic Overture. It arose at a time when the composer was working on other works, including the Academic Festival Overture. Interestingly, these two works were created simultaneously, however, quite different in their emotional nature - while the Academic Holiday overture is solemn and joyful, the Tragic overture reflects deep sadness and dramatism. At the same time, it is not associated with specific programmatic events. The composer himself once explained these differences in a very laconic way: "One laughs, the other cries."

In fact, the Academic Festival Overture is the composer’s musical appreciation to the University of Breslau for having conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Having duly conveyed his ebullient thanks by tossing a student cap into the air, Dr. Brahms donned his philosopher’s hat, furrowed his brow, and set a steely gaze on musical matters of deep seriousness.

ANTON BRUCKNER (1824-1896)
“Die nullte” symphony (1869)

The concert programme will culminate in the works by the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner, whose symphonies are known as a symbol of the last stage of romantic music due to their majestic lines and magnificent harmonies. The rarely performed “Die Nullte” symphony is an autumn-coloured masterpiece that takes us to the world of real illusions.

Unlike many other composers, Bruckner most of his important works wrote in the second half of his life: Symphony No. 1 was completed in 1866 and received its premiere in 1868; Symphony No. 2 was completed in 1872 and received its premiere in Vienna in 1873. Between them lies a Symphony in D minor.

Bruckner spent 9 months labouring over this work completing it in late 1869. He initially entitled the work Symphony No. 2, and submitted it to Otto Dessoff, the permanent conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic, for his review. After that, Bruckner withdrew the work from consideration entirely.

However, when Bruckner finished what is now known as his second symphony, the work was labelled as ‘Symphony No. 3’ but when he finished the next symphony in December 1873, it was called Symphony No. 3, and the previous work was relabelled as Symphony No. 2. The symphony that Dessoff had reviewed was filed away in a drawer and forgotten.

In 1895, when Bruckner was moving to smaller accommodations, he went through his paper and discovered the score to this symphony he had written 25 years earlier. He did not destroy the score but wrote dismissive words through the score, also the ‘null’ symbol, Ø, three times in the score and it is from this that the work is known as “Die Nullte” Symphony and in English as Symphony No. 0.

The reborn symphony was premiered its first performance 28 years after Bruckner’s death.  

INFORMATION FOR OUR VISITORS:

Discounts:

Pupils, students, disabled persons, pensioners – 3 euros
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Teachers, lecturers and medical workers – 20%

Groups (10 or more people) – 20%
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