The musical evening at the Academy of Denmark, part of the Roma Tre Orchestra concert season, presents unforgettable pieces by two musical giants: the Wesendonck - lieder, written in Zurich at the time when Richard Wagner was meditating on the opera Tristan und Isolde (many of whose musical themes are anticipated), which are perhaps the composer's most important work outside of the great musical dramas; and Johannes Brahms's Horn Trio, which is perhaps the most important chamber work ever dedicated to this brass instrument, a true marvel suspended between formal rigor and emotional intensity.
Richard Wagner (1813–1883) and Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) - who met only once in Vienna in 1863 - effectively embodied opposite poles of German musical life in the second half of the nineteenth century: the so-called "Brahms gegen Wagner" (Brahms versus Wagner) controversy, which pitted the formal traditionalism of Johannes Brahms (absolute music) against the musical revolution of Richard Wagner (music drama). Wagner viewed Brahms as a conservative, considering him an academic composer, tied to past forms such as the sonata, symphony, and quartet and incapable of true dramatic and philosophical innovation. For Wagner, Brahms represented absolute music, as opposed to his idea of a total work of art and the music of the future. Brahms, on the other hand, admired aspects of Wagner's writing such as orchestration and certain harmonic inventions, but detested the emphasis, rhetoric, and cult of personality that surrounded Wagner.
R. Wagner: Prayer from "Rienzi" for cello and piano; Prize Song from "The Mastersingers of Nuremberg," for cello and piano; Wesendonck – lieder (arr. A. Bonardi)
J. Brahms: Trio in E-flat major for violin, horn, and piano, Op. 40
Roma Tre Orchestra Ensemble
Alessandro Guaitolini, cello
Lucie Monjanel, mezzo-soprano
Matteo Bevilacqua, piano
Photo credits: official poster of the event
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