For lied lovers, last week’s major news was the confirmation that the Schubertíada will take place this summer. And with the second half of August on the horizon I moved mentally to the Empordà, the region were Vilabertran is placed, and I remembered a photo of a flowering rosemary I took last year at the Canonica in spring, I think. And one thing leads to another, and I reached Canticel, a beautiful song composed from a beautiful poem. And since the poem is by Josep Carner and these days we recall the 50th anniversary of his death, it seems that everything fits just right, doesn't it?

Antonín Dvořák started as a director at the National Conservatory of Music in New York in September 1892. He was reluctant to leave Europe, but when his wife found out about the salary he has been offered, all his excuses became useless, and they packed up and moved. Jeannette Meyer Thurber, a wealthy lady born in New York, a Danish violinist’s daughter, was behind that generous offer. After engaging other wealthy music lovers, in 1885, she founded the Conservatory which, according to her desires, would grant scholarships to students who could not afford [...]

Family and friends aside, live music and the sea are the two things I'm missing the most during these weeks that have already become months. As regards concerts, things seem to be moving along, and I’ve got really lost and I don't know at which unlockdown phase we’ll be allowed to go swimming; I'll be patient just a little longer, while we continue to listen to canned music only and looking at sea pictures. Or we can do both things at the same time.

The wunderschöne Monat Mai passed, and we are still locked down, except for a short daily walk in time and distance (not more than one hour, not farther than 1 km), so awkward and strange it is that I wouldn't call it a walk. If you live in a crowded place like Barcelona, you’ll understand what I’m saying; if you live in a place with less demographic pressure, I hope your daily walk is more enjoyable than ours. [...]

George Gordon Noel Byron's poetry soon had some extensive dissemination in Germany; some translations were distributed, and he also had some protectors such as Goethe, Heine and Müller, who was also the poet's biographer. Despite all of this, Lied composers were barely interested in Lord Byron. The exception was Carl Loewe, who put into music about twenty of his poems, but apart from these, just a few scattered Lieder are found, the best known of which is Mein Herz ist schwer, the no. 15 of Robert Schumann's Myrten. The rest are hardly performed in song recitals [...]