JAMES BAILLIEU, PIANO Highlights of his 23/24 season included a recital tour with Lise Davidsen at venues including the Metropolitan Opera House, the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, the Wigmore Hall, and the Wiener Staatsoper. He performed at Fundación Juan March and in venues across Japan with Benjamin Appl, at the Festival du Périgord Pourpre and Festival van Vlaanderen with Véronique Gens, at the Concertgebouw with Jess Gillam, and at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and Salzburg Easter Festival with Lise Davidsen and Freddie de Tommaso. James returns to the Wigmore Hall for recitals with Louise Alder, Tara Erraught and Tim Mead. James is a frequent guest at many of the world’s most distinguished music centres including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Vancouver Playhouse, Berlin Konzerthaus, Vienna Musikverein, the Barbican Centre, Wiener Konzerthaus, Bozar Brussels, Pierre Boulez Saal, Cologne Philharmonie, and the Laeiszhalle Hamburg. Festivals include Aix-en-Provence, Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Festpillene i Bergen, Edinburgh, Spitalfields, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Bath, City of London and Brighton Festivals. An innovative programmer, he has curated many song and chamber music festivals including series for the Brighton Festival, Wigmore Hall, BBC Radio 3, Verbier Festival, Bath International Festival, and Perth Concert Hall. At the invitation of John Gilhooly, James Baillieu has presented his own series at the Wigmore Hall with Adam Walker, Jonathan McGovern, Ailish Tynan, Tara Erraught, Henk Neven, Iestyn Davies, Allan Clayton, and Mark Padmore amongst others. This series was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Chamber Music and Song Award for an outstanding contribution to the performance of chamber music and song in the UK. James was prize winner of the Wigmore Hall Song Competition, Das Lied International Song Competition, the Kathleen Ferrier and Richard Tauber Competitions, and was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2010 and in 2012 received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a Geoffrey Parsons Memorial Trust Award. In 2016 he was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Outstanding Young Artist Award. Recording projects include ‘Forbidden Fruit’ (Alpha Classics), ‘Winterreise’ (Alpha Classics) and ‘Heimat’ (Sony Classical) with Benjamin Appl, the complete works of CPE Bach for violin and piano with Tamsin Waley-Cohen (Signum Records), and albums on the Chandos, Opus Arte, Champs Hill, Rubicon, and Delphian Record labels as part his critically acclaimed discography. James Baillieu is Senior Professor of Ensemble Piano at the Royal Academy of Music, a coach for the Jette Parker Young Artist Program at the Royal Opera House, a course leader for the Samling Foundation, and is head of the Song Program at the Atelier Lyrique of the Verbier Festival Academy. He is International Tutor in Piano Accompaniment at the Royal Northern College of Music and a trustee of the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. Highly sought after for masterclasses worldwide, recent sessions of learning have brought him to the Aldeburgh Festival, Cleveland Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Friends of Chamber Music, Portland, Oregon, Vancouver Academy of Music, Canada, and to the University of Waikato, New Zealand.

EMILY DAGGETT SMITH, VIOLIN A violinist praised as playing “gorgeously” and with “gracefulness and easy rapport” (The Boston Globe) Emily Daggett Smith is emerging as one of the most compelling artists of her generation. Her recital and chamber music performances have taken her across the United States, Europe, South America and Asia, and she has been described as playing with a “very beautiful tone” (The Gathering Note) and “irrepressible élan” (The Seattle Times). An avid chamber musician, Ms. Smith performs regularly at numerous festivals and series around the country such as the Concordia Chamber Ensemble, Festival Mozaic, Lenape Chamber Ensemble, Mainly Mozart Festival, Ravinia’s Steans Institute, and the Seattle Chamber Music Society. She has shared the stage with many renowned musicians including current and former members of the Cleveland, Emerson and Juilliard String Quartets, as well as pianists Claude Frank, Joseph Kalichstein, and Gilbert Kalish. Her performances have taken place at some of the world’s greatest halls including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Shanghai Grand Theatre and the Vienna Konzerthaus, and have been featured on PBS’s national broadcast Live from Lincoln Center, NPR’s From the Top, Classical King FM in Seattle and WWFM The Classical Network in New York and Pennsylvania. As a soloist, Ms. Smith made her New York concerto debut at the age of 21 in Alice Tully Hall, playing the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra and conductor Emmanuel Villaume. Since then she has performed concerti with many orchestras including Iris Orchestra, Festival Mozaic Orchestra, New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Classical Players. Growing up in the Boston area, she has also appeared as soloist with various orchestras in New England including a performance at the Hatch Shell in Boston as part of the Landmark Orchestra Series. As a concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra she has worked with many renowned conductors including Michael Tilson-Thomas, Leonard Slatkin and Nicholas McGegan.

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< Back Moritz Moszkowski Suite for two violins and piano , Op. 71 Program Notes Coming Soon Previous Next

HESPÈRION XXI, EARLY MUSIC ENSEMBLE Ancient music’s most important value stems from its ability as a universal artistic language to transmit feelings, emotions and ancestral ideas that even today can enthrall the contemporary listener. With a repertoire that encompasses the period between the 10th and 18th centuries, Hespèrion XXI searches continuously for new points of union between the East and West, with a clear desire for integration and for the recovery of international musical heritage, especially that of the Mediterranean basin and with links to the New World. In 1974 Jordi Savall and Montserrat Figueras, together with Lorenzo Alpert and Hopkinson Smith, founded the ancient music ensemble Hespèrion XX in Basel as a way of recovering and disseminating the rich and fascinating musical repertoire prior to the 19th century on the basis of historical criteria and the use of original instruments. The name Hespèrion means “an inhabitant of Hesperia”, which in ancient Greek referred to the two most westerly peninsulas in Europe: the Iberian and the Italian. It was also the name given to the planet Venus as it appeared in the west. At the turn of the 21st century Hespèrion XX became known as Hespèrion XXI. Today Hespèrion XXI is central to the understanding of the music of the period between the Middle Ages and the Baroque. Their labours to recover works, scores, instruments and unpublished documents have a double and incalculable value. On one hand, their rigorous research provides new information and understanding about the historical knowledge of the period, and on the other hand, the exquisite performances enable people to freely enjoy the aesthetic and spiritual delicacy of the works of this period. Right from the beginning Hespèrion XXI set out on a clearly innovative and artistic course that would lead to the establishment of a school in the field of ancient music because they conceived, and continue to conceive, ancient music as an experimental musical tool and with it they seek the maximum beauty and expressiveness in their performances. Any musician in the field of ancient music will have a commitment to the original spirit of each work and has to learn to connect with it by studying the composer, the instruments of the period, the work itself and the circumstances surrounding it. But as a craftsman in the art of music, he is also obliged to make decisions about the piece being played: a musician’s capacity to connect the past with the present and to connect culture with its dissemination depend on his skill, creativity and capacity to transmit emotions. Hespèrion XXI’s repertoire includes, amongst others, the music of the Sephardi Jews, Castilian romances, pieces from the Spanish Golden Age, and Europa de les Nacions. Some of their most celebrated concert programmes are Les Cantigues de Santa Maria d’Alfons X El Savi, La Diàspora Sefardí, the music of Jerusalem, Istanbul, Armenia and the Folías Criollas. Thanks to the outstanding work of numerous musicians and collaborators who have worked with the ensemble over all these years Hespèrion XXI still plays a key role in the recovery and reappraisal of the musical heritage, and one that has great resonance throughout the world. The group has published more than 60 CDs and performs concerts for the whole world, appearing regularly at the great international festivals of ancient music.

< Back Music from the Time of Cervantes (arr. W. Kanengiser) Anonymous (17th century) Jácaras Antonio Martín y Coll El Villano Antonio Martín y Coll Diferéncias Sobre Las Folias Juan Arañéz Chacona (“La Vida Bona”) Juan de Encina Oy Comamos Program Notes Previous Next

ÉRIK GRATTON, FLUTE Acting Principal Flutist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Érik Gratton is a native of Montréal, Canada. He received a First Prize with great distinction from the Montreal Conservatory, where he studied with Carolyn Christie and Jean-Paul Major. He furthered his studies with Jeanne Baxtresser at the Manhattan School of Music. Érik is in his 18th season as principal flutist of the Nashville Symphony. He has made many solo appearances with the orchestra, including John Corigliano’s Pied Piper Fantasy. He can be heard on more than 20 recordings with the Nashville Symphony on the Naxos label. Érik performed recently with the Montreal Symphony and the Seattle Symphony, and he has appeared at numerous orchestral festivals, including Tanglewood, Shira Music Festival Israel, the Peninsula Music Festival, and Mainly Mozart. Érik is an active session player in Nashville’s busy recording industry and enjoys giving solo recitals and playing chamber music on a regular basis. In his spare time, his hobbies include beekeeping, woodworking, and discovering new things and places with his wife Erin.

ANDREW TYSON, PIANO Hailed by BBC Radio 3 as “a real poet of the piano,” American pianist Andrew Tyson is emerging as a distinctive and important new musical voice. In summer 2015, he was awarded First Prize at the Géza Anda Competition in Zürich, as well as the Mozart and Audience Prizes. These victories have resulted in numerous performances throughout Europe under the auspices of the Géza Anda Foundation. Tyson is also a laureate of the Leeds International Piano Competition where he won the new Terence Judd-Hallé Orchestra Prize, awarded by the orchestra and conductor Sir Mark Elder with whom he enjoys an ongoing relationship. With concerto performances taking him across North America, Europe and further afield, Tyson has performed with orchestras from North Carolina Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Kansas City Symphony and Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Alice Tully Hall, to Osaka Symphony, SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, Musikkollegium Winterthur and National Orchestra of Belgium. Highlights this season include a return to the Hallé and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestras as well as his debut with Flanders Symphony Orchestra. Recital appearances include major cities across the U.S. and Europe at venues such as Brussels’ Palais des Beaux-Arts, New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Zürich Tonhalle. Following last season’s recitals in Shanghai, Vancouver, St. Petersburg, Tokyo and a return to London’s Wigmore Hall, this season sees Tyson giving recitals in Taiwan for the first time as well as a tour in Switzerland. No stranger to the festival scene, Tyson’s previous performances include Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Lucerne Piano Festival, Pacific Music Festival in Japan and the Musica Viva festival in Sydney for a mixture of solo and chamber performances. An active chamber musician, Tyson regularly appears in recital with violinist Benjamin Beilman; this season they join up again for performances in the U.S. Tyson’s three recital discs apppear on the Alpha Classics label. His debut disc comprises the complete Chopin Preludes while his second album released in March 2017 features works by Scriabin and Ravel. His latest disc, Landscapes, released in September 2019, features works by Mompou, Albéniz, Scarlatti and Schubert and is described by Tyson as a program which “synthesizes my love of Spanish music, my love of nature and my fascination with the coloristic aspects of piano playing.” The album title takes its name from Federico Mompou’s Paisajes, which are “landscapes of the mind as much as intimate, yet vivid depictions of Spain.” As winner of the Young Concert Artists International auditions in 2011, Tyson was awarded YCA’s Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize and the John Browning Memorial Prize. An Avery Fisher Career Grant soon followed. After early studies with Thomas Otten he attended The Curtis Institute of Music where he worked with Claude Frank. Tyson later studied with Robert McDonald earning his Master’s degree and Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School, winning the Gina Bachauer Piano Competition and receiving the Arthur Rubinstein Prize in Piano.

November 14, 2021 – Schumann String Quartet WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) String Quartet in C, K. 465 (“Dissonance”) November 14, 2021 – Schumann String Quartet One of Mozart’s most earthshaking developments upon moving from his native Salzburg to Vienna in 1781 was meeting Joseph Haydn and hearing the older composer’s Opus 33 Quartets. Their profound influence spurred Mozart to compose his six so-called “Haydn” Quartets—the first three between December 1782 and July 1783 and the second three between November 1784 and January 1785. Mozart dedicated them to his friend as “the fruit of a long and arduous labor,” saying, “During your last stay in this capital you yourself, my dear friend, expressed to me your approval of these compositions. Your good opinion encourages me to offer them to you and leads me to hope that you will not consider them wholly unworthy of your favor.” Mozart’s highly unusual dedication to a composer and not to an aristocrat or intended performer shows the extent of his admiration. Haydn had expressed his approval on a visit to Vienna in February 1785, when he heard Mozart, his father Leopold, and two friends play the quartets. He famously told Leopold: “I tell you before God as an honest man that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by reputation. He has taste, and what is more, the most profound knowledge of composition.” Haydn’s Opus 33 Quartets, which the composer himself had said were written “in an entirely new manner,” influenced Mozart particularly in their new equality of part-writing for the four individual instruments and in their treatment of thematic elaboration as an integral part of the whole. Mozart’s famous C major Quartet, completed on January 14, 1785, crowns his entire set of Haydn Quartets with its contrapuntal exploration and brilliance. The work received the nickname “Dissonance” in the 1780s because of the clashing pitches (cross-relations) in its slow introduction, resulting from Mozart’s bold approach to counterpoint. The public did not originally appreciate these dissonances—the irate Hungarian Prince Grassalkovics tore up his performers’ music, an Italian publisher returned the Haydn Quartets to Mozart’s original publisher Artaria saying they were full of mistakes (presumably the Dissonance Quartet’s introduction loomed large as a culprit), and French encyclopedist François-Joseph Fétis even printed a revised introduction. Haydn himself may have had misgivings about the opening, but stated, “Since Mozart wrote it this way, he must have had good reason to do so.” His less than enthusiastic endorsement seems surprising from the composer whose Creation famously opens with Chaos—in the same C minor key—which employs similar dissonances before bursting brilliantly into C major at “Let there be Light!” But, we have to remember, he wrote the oratorio over ten years after the Dissonance Quartet. Could he, in turn, have been influenced by the younger composer? The disquieting intensity of Mozart’s slow introduction grips the listener, heightening the sense of release into the sunny main body of the movement in C major. His singing first theme with its propulsive undercurrent arrives by means of imaginative counterpoint at his more forthright second theme with its cascading fast notes. And, assuaging any thirst for a more typically lyrical second subject, he offers another more lilting theme in this new key area. His charming main idea with ingenious variants serves as the basis for the exposition’s closing, for the movement’s development section, and for the coda. Following the tender melody that opens the intimate slow movement, Mozart introduces a little turn figure—in dialogue between violin and cello—that he invests with great significance as the movement proceeds. He also creates a second theme out of simple repeated notes. But what is most remarkable is how he treats his “recapitulation.” Proceeding without a development section—a common enough procedure for a slow movement—he begins what seems like an ornamented version of his main theme, but injects a bit of development as he progresses into the “dialogue.” Similarly he incorporates some development into the recap of his second theme, producing poignant dissonances. Nor can he resist introducing a lovely new violin melody toward the end against the little turn figure. In the minuet Mozart plays with contrasts—soft and loud, chords and unisons—and delights in injecting frequent sinuous chromatic elements. The compelling melody of the minor-mode trio begins hesitantly then soars—presented by the violin in the first half and by the cello when it returns in the second. The exuberant sonata-form finale gets much of its propulsive energy from the quick repeated notes of the outset, which Mozart treats in myriad inventive incarnations. He also outdid himself with touches of humor—Haydnesque surprises—but also dramatic modulations, a tender almost Schubertian passage, and spurts of virtuosity, which make this a fitting conclusion to the six Haydn Quartets. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

December 5, 2021: Paul Jacobs, organ JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Sinfonia from Cantata, BWV 29 (arr. Marcel Dupre) December 5, 2021: Paul Jacobs, organ As the busiest and most important musician in one of the most active music centers in Germany in the 1730s and ’40s, how did Bach find time to meet all of his obligations? He had arrived in Leipzig in 1723 to take up the position of Kantor of the renowned Thomasschule, which meant that, in addition to overseeing music at the four major churches, he held the post of civic music director. As if that weren’t enough, he took on the music directorship of the University of Leipzig and, from 1729 until the early 1740s (with a short interruption from 1737 to 1739), he directed the Collegium Musicum, which presented weekly public concerts. The duties associated with all of these positions included composing music for all the principal Sunday services, church feasts, and occasions such as weddings, birthdays, and city events; training all the singers at the Thomasschule to staff the four choirs; and training instrumentalists who ranged from students at the Thomasschule and the University to the city’s professional musicians. Like many an enterprising composer before and after him, Bach borrowed from materials he had composed earlier to meet the constant demand. Just as his cantatas provided a rich source for instrumental works, the cantatas themselves also borrowed from each other and from other genres. In the case of the Sinfonia from Cantata 29, “Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir” (We thank you, God, we thank you), Bach needed to compose a celebratory cantata for the inauguration of the Leipzig town council on August 27, 1731. So, he borrowed from the Sinfonia that opens Part 2 of his Cantata 120a, “Herr Gott, Beherrscher aller Dinge” (Lord God, ruler of all things), which he had written for a wedding, most likely in 1729. (That cantata survives in incomplete state, but has been reconstructed with help from the sources of its borrowed material.) For that wedding cantata, Bach had taken the unusual step of fashioning the Sinfonia for the massive forces of organ and orchestra out of a movement for unaccompanied violin—the Preludio of his E major Partita, which dates from 1720 when he was in Cöthen. As often with his borrowings, he used a different key, in this case D major, which he maintained for the 1731 cantata. The Partita movement’s merry perpetual motion made its reuse entirely fitting for these festive occasions and has contributed to the piece’s remarkable popularity. Numerous arrangers have seized on the Preludio/Sinfonia to adapt it for various instruments and instrumental combinations. Organ transcriptions work particularly well, since Bach himself already paved the way. Out of many, Paul Jacobs has chosen that by the great French organist and composer Marcel Dupré, known especially for his virtuoso, symphonic organ music and for his prodigious technique, improvisation skills, and memory—and, as a fitting sidebar to this 335th Bach anniversary celebration, Dupré is credited as the first to perform Bach’s entire organ works in a series of concerts given at the Paris Conservatoire in 1920. © Jane Vial Jaffe Return to Parlance Program Notes

October 15, 2023: Lysander Piano Trio FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828) Piano Trio in E-flat, Op. 100 October 15, 2023: Lysander Piano Trio Schubert made four contributions to the piano trio literature, two full-fledged trios—B-flat major, op. 99, and E-flat major, op. 100—and two one-movement pieces—the early Sonatensatz, D. 28 (1812), and the Adagio in E-flat, D. 897, sometimes called Notturno. Though the precise dating of the B-flat major Trio remains somewhat of a mystery, both that and the E-flat trio are known to have been composed close to the same time, about a year before his unfortunately early death. The manuscript of the E-flat Trio states that it was begun in November 1827; the finale was probably completed in December. The two trios, though considerably contrasting in character, show a typical Schubertian tendency to work on more than one major work in the same genre, if not simultaneously then in quick succession. The Notturno, which may have been intended as a movement for the B-flat Trio, was also composed around that time. Outside of songs and a few operas, most of Schubert’s compositions were not performed publicly during his lifetime, though many were heard at the private musical evenings known as “Schubertiads.” The E-flat major Trio was one of the few that received a public performance, at the only public concert of his works that Schubert instigated before his death. The concert took place at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna on March 28, 1828, to an overflow crowd containing many ardent Schubert supporters who loudly voiced their approval; the concert also helped Schubert’s ailing finances. The Trio—played by pianist Carl Maria von Bocklet, violinist Joseph Böhm (not Schuppanzigh as is sometimes reported), and cellist Josef Linke—formed the centerpiece of the concert, which also included a string quartet movement, several songs, and a piece for double male chorus. Despite the success of the concert, the event was largely eclipsed by the Paganini frenzy that soon held Vienna in its grip. Schubert’s growing recognition, however, was reflected in the fact that two publishers outside Vienna—B. Schott of Mainz and H. A. Probst of Leipzig—began asking Schubert for works to publish, hoping mainly for “easy” pieces that would sell well, such as songs and piano duets. Probst eventually offered to publish the E-flat Trio for about one-quarter of the going rate for piano trios, saying “a trio is a luxury article that rarely brings in a profit.” Schubert felt obliged to accept the offer on May 10, 1828, in view of his financial situation, asking only for “the swiftest possible publication.” Schubert wrote to Probst on August 1 that “this work is dedicated to nobody but those who find pleasure in it.” On October 2 he still had to “beg to inquire when the Trio is at last to appear. . . . I wait its appearance with longing.” Regrettably, Schubert died one month before the first copies reached Vienna. Both the B-flat and E-flat trios show Schubert’s expansive approach to Classical forms, the B-flat lasting approximately thirty-six minutes and the E-flat about forty-four—the latter, which Joseph Braunstein pointed out, is longer than all the Beethoven symphonies except the Third and the Ninth. The sonata-form first movement of the E-flat Trio is built on four themes—the unison opening, which returns to signal the recapitulation and to conclude the work, the scherzo-like main theme, a more hesitant second theme, and a lyrical closing theme. One of the most striking aspects of the movement is that Schubert uses the last of these as the basis of the development. Schubert’s friend Leopold von Sonnleithner reported that the composer had made use of a Swedish folk song in the Andante con moto, and, indeed, Schubert had heard several Swedish folk songs sung by Isak Albert Berg (later the teacher of the famous Jenny Lind) at the home of his musical friends, the four Fröhlich sisters. Eventually, in 1978 musicologist Manfred Willfort showed the source of Schubert’s material to be “Se solen sjunker” (The Sun Is Setting) from a manuscript “5 Swedish Folk Songs . . . composed by Mr. B.” Schubert’s use of the folk song constitutes an absorption into his own expressive style rather than a simple quotation as seen in the example below. Despite his “Scherzo” label, Schubert referred to the third movement in a letter to Probst as a minuet, which was to be played “at a moderate pace and piano throughout.” And indeed the Scherzo, which opens canonically, suggests older models. “The trio, on the other hand,” wrote Schubert, should be “vigorous except where p and pp are marked.” Its heavy accents provide great contrast to the more graceful outer Scherzo sections. Schubert’s finale is remarkably progressive in its recall of earlier movements—such “cyclic” procedures were to become common with Romantic composers. The movement has often been criticized for its length, and Schubert himself made cuts in it which he told Probst “are to be scrupulously observed” in the engraving. In a reversal of his usual editorial practice, Brahms restored Schubert’s cut material when he prepared the movement for the new critical edition of Schubert’s works, making the finale over 1,000 measures(!), and adding to the decisions modern performers have to make. The movement’s expansiveness also brings to mind Schumann’s famous phrase in regard to Schubert’s Ninth Symphony—“heavenly length.” Return to Parlance Program Notes

November 2, 2025 BENJAMIN APPL BENJAMIN APPL ON DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU November 2, 2025 He let poetry resound and music speak‘ Franz Grillparzer's draft for Schubert's gravestone inscription An die Musik expresses my great gratitude to Dieter Fischer-Dieskau for the many hours we spent together: ‘Beloved art, for this I thank you!‘ I met Fischer-Dieskau for the first time in 2009 when I took part in a masterclass at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg. Afterwards he offered me the opportunity to study with him privately. From that point on until just a few weeks before his death, I had the incredible fortune of working with him regularly at his homes in Berlin and Berg. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was born in Berlin in 1925. His father was a schoolmaster who loved to compose, for example he wrote the Singspiel Sesenheim (Heidenröslein ). Dieter's mother was denied the opportunity to become a singer, so she ensured that great care was taken over the musical education of her three sons Klaus, Martin and Dietrich. The eldest brother, Klaus began composing at an early age and dedicated Nocturne to his mother, and Wehmut to his brother. It soon became clear that Dieter wanted to be a singer, and the first song he studied was Wie bist du, meine Königin . Shortly before his military service in 1944, he became engaged to Irmgard ‘Irmel’ Poppen, his future wife. Torn from his homeland, he wrote many love letters full of longing for and memories of (Andenken ) his distant beloved. In 1944, the Nazis murdered Dieter’s younger brother Martin. During the early years of the war and Dieter’s subsequent imprisonment in Italy, he learned countless pieces of music, regularly hearing of the atrocities at the hand the National Socialists. Reimann's Tenebrae deals with the suffering of Jewish victims during the Holocaust in a haunting way, and was written for Dieter. His singing gave strength to thousands of prisoners. Shortly after the end of the war, he sang songs from previously hostile countries for example Sinding's Sylvelin and Tchaikovsky's Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt . His repertoire also included operetta (Ich bin nur ein armer Wandergesell ). In 1947 he finally returned to Germany (Die Heimkehr ) and started his international career in Berlin where he began to receive major recognition (Vier ernste Gesänge ). Irmel gave birth to three sons, but tragically she died during the birth of her third child ( Süßes Begräbnis ). As is so often the case, Dieter saw music as the only path out of suffering (An mein Klavier ). Benjamin Britten dedicated his Songs and Proverbs of William Blake to him – ‘For Dieter: The past and the future‘ (Proverb III ) after this terrible loss. Another bitter moment of grief was the death of his beloved and mother Theodora (Mutters Hände ) to whom he was very close. His private life in the years to come was not very stable: his marriage to the actress Ruth Leuwerik (1965-1967), famous from the film Vater braucht eine Frau , only lasted a short time, as did his marriage to Kristina Pugell (1968-1975) (Liebhaber in allen Gestalten ). In 1977 he married the soprano Julia Varady (Liebst du um Schönheit ). Fischer-Dieskau received countless commissioned compositions during his lifetime, and took part in important premieres, such as the historically significant and emotionally stirring premiere of Britten's War Requiem in 1962 which he then translated into German. Additionally,Samuel Barber wrote his three songs op. 45 especially for him. Teaching played an important role in Dieter’s later decades. Often demanding, strict and with a great attention to detail, he shared his unfathomable knowledge with his students. I fondly recall him telling me that he liked my recording of Sterb' ich, so hüllen in Blumen meine Glieder so much, that he would like to mentor me. From the many hours we then spent together, I particularly remember the moments when he felt unobserved, sharing his mischievous sense of humour and dancing through the living room. When I visited Fischer-Dieskau for the final time, it was just a few weeks before his death in May 2012. Coming away that day, I somehow felt that could be the last time I would see Dieter. I wrote him a very long letter, thanking him for the experiences we had shared and expressing my gratitude for all I had learned from him. And then a few weeks later, I learnt that he’d passed away. This concert (and the accompanying CD recording) is both a personal and public dedication to this fine artist. I was and remain inspired by Dieter both from our private time together and his recordings, and this moment gives us all the chance to celebrate his enormous legacy on his 100th birthday. Return to Parlance Program Notes