Minkowski Conducts Tchaikovsky's Pathétique
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Gran Teatre del Liceu La Rambla 51-59, 08002 Barcelona
Image courtesy of the Liceu.
Marc Minkowski, the guest conductor of our Orchestra's symphony music season, has chosen as his visiting card a program comprising two colossal works that are known by their subtitles: the Jupiter and Pathétique symphonies.
In the summer of 1788, Mozart wrote what were to be his last three symphonies in quick succession (No. 39, KV 543; No. 40, KV 550; and No. 41, KV 551). Disillusioned and downcast over the unsuccessful Viennese premiere of Don Giovanni and up to his neck in debt, he sought refuge in a modest house on the city outskirts. And it was in this isolated setting that he wrote his "Jupiter" symphony, to use the nickname invented by the impresario J. P. Salomon.
Just over a hundred years later, in 1893, Tchaikovsky composed his own last work in Saint Petersburg. “I love it as I have never loved any of my compositions," he wrote. "I am not exaggerating, my whole soul is in this symphony.” Nine days later, under the effects of a depression caused by his sexual orientation, he committed suicide. The work was his premonitory last will, a lyrical requiem for orchestra.
Both works are musical miracles and the words we use to refer to human feelings (joy, sadness, rebellion, doubt, certitude, indifference...) are too imprecise to define them. Marc Minkowski, the renowned French conductor who founded Les Musiciens du Louvre, will uncover for us the secrets of these two love letters to humanity.
For more music events check our online events calendar.
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