RO NOW: Quest for Beauty

Between 7:00-7:30 p.m., Ensemble Klang plays on the Theater Steps at Amare (first floor). 

How can beauty be defined? How does it move us? Does it exist? We know that when we experience beauty suddenly, it envelops us with happiness. But why it happens, and how, that remains a mystery. Led by Yuki Kho, these three experts shine their light on this mysterious phenomenon. With their very different areas of expertise, this promises to be an exciting conversation. 

- Monique Roelofs, Professor of Philosophy of Art and Culture 

- Robert Schoemacher, Doctor of cosmetic medicine 

- Suzanne Swarts, Director of Museum Voorlinden 

The Beauty Talk is in Foyer 3 and begins at 7:45 pm. 

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) 

Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini, op. 43 (1934) 

Italy forms the connection between the two pieces of this program. But where Rachmaninov uses only a small tune by an Italian composer, Mendelssohn takes the entire country as his subject in his symphony. 

Violin virtuoso 

When Sergei Rachmaninov left Russia in 1917, forced by the revolution, it broke his heart. For the rest of his life, which he spent largely in the United States, he was consumed by longing for his homeland that was unattainable for him. His fame was no less so. A celebrated piano virtuoso, he traveled across America and far beyond, giving countless recitals and concerts. But composing virtually failed: "When I left Russia, I lost my desire to compose, actually I lost myself." In his American years until his death, he wrote only six larger works. The Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini was one of them. 

In 1934, Rachmaninov discovered Paganini's Capriccios for violin solo. They were 24 highly virtuosic pieces for violin with the Last part being a series of fiendishly difficult variations on a simple theme. The piece awakened the keyboard lion in Rachmaninov. What Paganini did with the tune on violin, he could do just fine on the piano. Like his Italian predecessor, he turned it into a series of highly virtuosic variations. 

Piano Concerto 

Its premiere on November 7, 1934 with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski became a huge success, and the Rhapsody became a regular part of Rachmaninov's concerts in the years that followed, received with cheers everywhere. Now he had also turned it into an ingenious piece in which he used not only the melody but also the corresponding harmonic basis as an important element. The 24 variations that make up the piece are subtly divided into three sections, which flow smoothly into one another, yet suggest a classical three-movement piano concerto. Sometimes through it all sounds a shred of an entirely different melody, such as the Dies irae from the Gregorian Mass of the Dead. It was Rachmaninov's musical life motto that he used in many of his compositions. And it is also his signature in the Rhapsody . 

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847) 

Symphony No. 4 in A, op. 90 "Italian" (1833) 

• Allegro vivace 

• Andante con moto 

• Con moto moderato 

• Saltarello (presto) 

Italienische Reise 

The idea came from Goethe, for years a close family friend of the Mendelssohns in Berlin. The young Felix just had to go on a grand cultural journey through Italy using the old writer's Italienische Reise as a guide. And so Felix Mendelssohn set out on May 8, 1830. He took his time, first visiting at length the old Goethe in Weimar and staying for some time in Munich, where, in his father's judgment, he did take an excessive interest in the young ladies. Finally, in October he set foot on Italian soil. "Now I am in Italy! And what I have imagined as the highest happiness since I can think, that has now begun and I am enjoying it," he excitedly boasted to his sister Fanny on the 18th of that month. A short time later he arrived in Rome where he moved into an apartment in Piazza di Spagna. Day after day he wandered through the city, visiting all the famous sites, deeply impressed by so much beauty that he got to see, whether it was the Roman remains or the sumptuous Baroque churches that could be found all over the city. But he also made long treks through the countryside around Rome and visited such cities as Venice, Milan and Naples. 

Solemn procession and rousing folk dance 

Of course, a symphony dedicated to his temporary new homeland could not be missing. "It will be the most joyful piece I have written so far, especially the Last movement," he wrote to his family in Berlin. And merry the symphony was, with its extremely sunny opening movement, its dashing scherzo and, in between, an andante inspired by a solemn procession he had witnessed in Naples. For the finale he chose a rousing saltarello, an old Italian folk dance that was still very popular even in the nineteenth century. 

Strangely, Mendelssohn himself later found it difficult to get along with his Italian symphony, which he did not complete until his return to Germany. And after the first performance in London in 1833, he was not satisfied. He stopped all further performances and continued to work on it throughout his life. Only four years after his death in 1851 was the symphony published. Then this Italian could begin its true triumphal march on the world stages. 

Kees Wisse