In the spring of 1948, Richard Strauss and his wife Pauline lived in retirement in Switzerland. The composer was about to turn 84 years old, not much time had passed since the end of (in Strauss's words) "the most terrible period of human history," and he was still under suspicion of having been a collaborator. Months before, he had returned from a trip to England during which he had managed to rehabilitate his image with the help of friends like Thomas Beechan, and in June that year, he was exonerated in his denazification trial as innocent; in early 1949, he went back to his home in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where he died on September 6th. It was during the months between the spring and autumn of 1948 when he wrote his last works, five lieder, although the last one, Malven, was kept secret by the soprano Maria Jeritza to whom it was dedicated, and anything was known [...]
One of the first posts of this blog was about songs and cherries. You know how it is, you pick a cherry and you get a few more because of their intertwined stems; the same happens with some songs, you listen to one and inevitably a few more come to your mind, because they are somehow related.
Two weeks ago we listened to Strauss's Ständchen; today we're listening to another cherry, Schubert's Ständchen; sometimes a song leads me to another one because of what they have in common; this time I want to draw your attention to what sets them apart: both are serenades, but the spirits of both lovers are so different!
Totes les sessions seran a les 19 hores a La Tribu Llibreria c/Pons i Gallarza 30, Sant Andreu