The programme comprises Johannes Brahms' works
Marienlieder (“Songs for Mary”), Op. 22
Motets Op. 74, Op. 110
Thirteen Canons, Op. 113
Five Songs for male voices, Op. 41
“I am in love with music, I love music, I think of nothing but… If it continues like that I may evaporate into a chord and float off into the air.”
These lines were written by Johannes Brahms (1833–1897). The letter was addressed to his beloved woman, Clara Schumann, with whom he never united. The young Brahms adored Clara and her husband Robert Schumann; their family was an ideal for him. Soon after her husband’s death Clara and her children went to Berlin, and Brahms accepted the long-standing offer from the town of Detmold to work at the princely court. The composer liked to walk in the neighboring Teutoburg Forest where he could stay alone and get thoughts together. The court engagement let Brahms acquire important practical skills. He was especially in working with chorus; there he delved into the choral music of old masters. The ensemble under the baton of Brahms performed various music: ranging from adaptations of folk songs to Bach’s cantatas, Handel’s Messiah, compositions by Mozart, Schumann and others.
In the concert the Novaya Opera Chamber choir will perform Brahms’ various choral compositions. Some of them were written soon after the composer’s departure from Detmold (Marienlieder and some canons from Op. 113), while the others – much later. On the one hand, the concert is to show polarization of the male and female worlds (the programme comprises compositions for mixed chorus and Brahms’ only composition of male choir) and, on the other hand, synthesis of these two worlds in the love theme.