Romances, piano & chamber music
Sung in Russian with German & English surtitles
introductory video (in German) will appear here shortly before opening night
Tchaikovsky Lieder combine to create an intimate evening of theatre, exploring five people and their conflicting emotions: suppressed feelings of love are confronted with moments of snatched at ecstacy, the sadness about broken relationships leads to withdrawal and loneliness. This creates a new dynamic between the figures, in which they wear each other out, despise, love and idolise one another- but are constantly thrown back on their own devices.
Tchaikovsky achieved a stylistic diversity greater than possibly any other Russian composer with his more than one hundred Lieder, which were nearly all titled »romances«. He prefered texts by poets who avoided subjects that could be easily explained. The resulting gaps, the unsaid and unsayable is what makes Tchaikovsky's music so expressive. His ability to tackle true human emotions head on made his Lieder very popular during his lifetime. While Tchaikovsky's romances are a core part of the repertoire in Russia, they languish in the shadows of his operas, symphonies and ballets in Europe. Christof Loy's staging includes rarely performed Lieder, interspersed with short works for piano and chamber music.
String Sextet from the Frankfurt Opern- und Museumsorchester
