en / pl

Rosamunde

concert number 9

Performers

Programme

Franz Schubert XIII Kwartet smyczkowy a-moll Rosamunde D.804 [33’]
I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Andante
III. Menuetto. Allegretto
IV. Allegro moderato

Robert Schumann Kwintet fortepianowy Es-dur op. 44 [30’]
I. Allegro brillante
II. In modo d’una marcia. Un poco largamente – Agitato
III. Scherzo. Molto vivace
IV. Allegro ma non troppo

Concert description

The 19th century is often seen as an era of opposites: the industrial revolution and technological progress vs. Gothicism and the crisis of the Enlightenment faith in reason, the flowering of national cultures vs. the birth of modern cosmopolitanism. These divergent tendencies can also be found in music: monumentalism in symphony and opera vs. miniaturization of genres practiced in aristocratic and bourgeois parlors.

Miniatures and songs worked well in a small group, but what worked even better was chamber music, which became a musical equivalent of a social gathering. Despite the weight of absolute music inherited from Beethoven’s late works, trios, quartets, and quintets also had some programmatic features. It was especially evident in vocal and instrumental works of Franz Schubert, such as the late Rosamunde Quartet, which refers to his music written for a drama by Helmina von Chézy. And even without such references, as in Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet, the emotional evocativeness, changeability, and dialogues between instruments make one perceive the work as a quasi-narrative or quasi-drama.

– Dominika Micał, “Ruch Muzyczny”