When the Bohemian tenor Gustav Walter commissioned Antonín Dvořák to compose a cycle of songs, the composer turned to the poetry of Adolf Heyduk, one of the poets of the May School, whose most prominent representative was Jan Neruda. Heyduk, an engineer by profession, had published in 1858 his first volume of poetry, Básně [Poemes], which included [...]

What should the Venice of Thomas Moore look like, our poet this week? By day, things were different from what we know today. But maybe at night Venice, two hundred years ago and now, are similar. In the evening, many groups that visited the city during the day have already left. There are no loud bachelor parties or similar events, possibly due to the high cost of lodging and [...]

I read a few days ago that 2024 marks 150 years since the birth of Charles Ives. I had overlooked the round anniversary (however, not long ago we heard his delightful Two little flowers), so, as a small celebration, this week we will listen to one more song of the composer that I jotted down for this series.

When we talk about Hugo Wolf’s Lieder, we begin to explain them since February 1888, from the Mörike-Lieder, his first great collection. But the composer, who was then twenty-eight years old, had already composed a good handful of Lieder while searching for his own voice (for instance we listened a while ago to Zur Ruh', zur Ruh', from 1883). Some Lieder composed in the [...]

A few weeks ago we talked about lotus and water lilies, following a poem by Emanuel Geibel, Die stille Wasserrose. The point is that when Clara Schumann set the poem into music, she changed the water lily for a lotus (the reason is not known), and hence the little introduction talking about both flowers. This week we will listen to another song composed upon the same [...]