CONCERT OF 250 YEARS OF BEETHOVEN
March 7, 2020, we did a tribute concert to Beethoven for the 250th anniversary of his birth. This concert was in Paris in the Saint-Marcel Church, known for its beautiful acoustics. We played Beethoven's opus 60 and 61 there, namely his 4th Symphony and his Violin Concerto.
We made this choice because these two works follow each other in the order of Beethoven's compositions. You should also know that after his 3rd Symphony, Beethoven's fame was growing and that his two works show two fascinating facets of the composer.
The fourth symphony revives the classicism from which Beethoven came, a kind of summary before the masterpiece that constitutes the block 5th - 6th Symphonies. And the second facet is the innovative Beethoven, the pianist who has never written a violin concerto and who will rub shoulders with the genius we know.
This success in innovation will certainly have a lot to do with the romantic impetus that will be the rest of his work. We did this concert on March 7, 2020, just days before lockdown, for what was perhaps the last Beethoven tribute concert of this year! We originally had other plans for the 2020 sequel.
In particular a concert with a piano concerto by Chopin, a Symphony by Schumann and Les préludes by Liszt, a concert centered on the year 1810, the year of birth of these composers. A cover of Beethoven's violin concerto was also planned for the start of the school year, but all these projects have been postponed due to the covid.
Beethoven Violin Concerto - Anna Göckel, Orchestre Romantique de Paris
Beethoven Violin Concerto - Anna Göckel, Orchestre Romantique de Paris
Beethoven 4th Symphony - Orchestre Romantique de Paris
PRIÈRE À L'OPÉRA
La prière est cette incantation mystique à une essence supérieure et pratiquement inatteignable. Une sorte d’appel du coeur, qu’il soit enflammé ou en désarroi, plein de foi ou désespéré.
L’opéra, de part la dramaturgie inhérente à son écriture, offre le terrain idéal pour exprimer les couleurs de la prière, cet abandon du coeur à l’inéluctabilité du destin. Le destin, d’ailleurs, élément central de la plupart des opéras, est cette roue inexorable qui avance et qui broie les passions, les élans et les désirs de tout un chacun.
Le destin est d’ailleurs à distinguer de l’essence Divine dans l’opéra. Le destin n’a ni oreilles ni yeux, ni coeur ni âme, ni raison ni sentiments. Dieu est au contraire celui qui peut influer sur le destin. Il influe rarement, reconnaissons- le, dans la conception théâtrale. Mais c’est ce qui rend les prières plus touchantes et inspirées : pour espérer toucher le créateur, il faut que le coeur déborde et que la sincérité soit sans faille.
PRAYER AT THE OPERA
Prayer is this mystical incantation to a superior and practically unattainable essence. A kind of call from the heart, whether inflamed or in disarray, full of faith or desperate.
Opera, through the dramaturgy inherent in its writing, offers the ideal terrain to express the colors of prayer, this abandonment of the heart to the inevitability of fate. Destiny, moreover, a central element of most operas, is this inexorable wheel which advances and which crushes the passions, impulses and desires of everyone.
Destiny is also to be distinguished from the Divine essence in opera. Fate has neither ears nor eyes, neither heart nor soul, neither reason nor feelings. On the contrary, God is the one who can influence destiny. It rarely influences, let's face it, theatrical design. But this is what makes the prayers more touching and inspired: to hope to touch the creator, the heart must overflow and the sincerity must be flawless.
In addition to the dramaturgy of the librettos which allows the most noble impulses to express themselves, the opera provides music of unequaled expressiveness, which sustains them, embellishes them and ennobles them. The Romantic era in particular was very creative in this area and Western Europe provided the most beautiful prayers ever set to music.
The Romantic Orchestra of Parisproposes to bring together the sincerity of sincere prayer and the perfection of 19th century music during a series of concerts in a large Parisian church (Saint-Eustache normally).