Conductor: Iván Fischer Soloists: Christianne Stotijn – mezzo-soprano, Robert Dean Smith – tenor Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht, op. 4 Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde Arnold Schoenberg spent the summer of 1899 in Semmering with Alexander von Zemlinksy. There he met his friend’s younger sister whom he later married. The new love affair inspired his work Verklärte Nacht, which is based on a verse by Richard Dehmel. It is hard for us now to understand why the critics reacted with such hostility to t...his late Romantic and lyrical work which still demonstrates the strong influence of Wagner. In 1907, Gustav Mahler experienced three serious blows: his eldest daughter died, he lost his job as opera director in Vienna and he was diagnosed with an incurable illness. At this low point in his life, Theodor Pollak drew his attention to the anthology A Chinese Flute which contained Chinese poems in free translations by Hans Bethge. Mahler picked six to set to music. These poems are about the Earth, the beauty of human life and its hopelessness – themes that preoccupied Mahler all his life. This song cycle can be seen as the ultimate summation of the results and contradictions of Romanticism, as well as heralding a new musical world. “Eternally... Eternally...”, sings the solo at the end of Abschied (“The Farewell”), the sixth song in the cycle. It is a farewell to the beauty of life. With this work, the fifty eight year old Mahler was also saying farewell to himself. He never lived to hear the première of Das Lied von der Erde. Christianne Stotijn graduated first as a violinist in 2000 and then as a singer in 2003 from the Amsterdam Music Academy. As an opera singer, she made her debut in the Paris Opera in 2003 and in 2006 appeared at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Born in the United States, Robert Dean Smith is a welcome guest in the world’s leading opera houses, and since 1997 has been an important participant at the Bayreuth Festival.
Parking information
We wish to inform you that in the event that Müpa Budapest's underground garage and outdoor car park are operating at full capacity, it is advisable to plan for increased waiting times when you arrive. In order to avoid this, we recommend that you depart for our events in time, so that you you can find the ideal parking spot quickly and smoothly and arrive for our performance in comfort. The Müpa Budapest underground garage gates will be operated by an automatic number plate recognition system. Parking is free of charge for visitors with tickets to any of our paid performances on that given day. The detailed parking policy of Müpa Budapest is available here.
Safe ticket purchase
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