Without haste, without respite

The concert programme at the Fenice Theatre will accompany us to the end of 2022 with beautiful productions, such as Mozart’s Vesperae Solenne de Confessore K. 339 on December 3, conducted by Myung-Whun Chun. The Vesperae are one of the most meaningful products of Mozart’s mind, who wrote them in Salzburg at age twenty-four. The mysterious confessor is probably Saint Joseph, and the composition is grandiose and imposing. It is laid out in a composite, articulated counterpoint that, far from dragging down its power, gives it vitality and enchantment. The concert’s second act is raised by a semitone, from the C major of the Vesperae Solenne de Confessore to the C# of the Trauermarsch that initiates Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. Composed between 1901 and 1903, it is the first piece of music that Mahler authored in his cabin by Lake Wörthersee, in Carinthia. On December 10 and 11, Asher Fish will both conduct the Orchestra and perform at the piano in a rendition of Mozart’s concert KV491 – a composition of resigned, somewhat wise tones, loved by Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms. In fact, Mozart’s piece will be followed by Brahm’s Second Symphony.

The same author described the symphony as “jolly and amiable” and its tone really is luminous, charming, captivating, and highly communicating. French musical sensitivity defines the programme for December 17. Charles Dutoit guides the Fenice Orchestra in an all-French musical voyage. Gabriel Fauré opens with the mysterious piece Pelléas et Melisande, a tragedy of delicate, chamber-like tones. Claude Debussy’s Nocturnes will follow – three soft, pastel-like orchestral episodes. Nocturne is also the first movement of Maurice Ravel’s first movement from his Suite no. 1 Daphnis et Chloé. Composed for Sergey Dyagilev’s Ballets russes, it didn’t meet quite the same success then as it did as a concert piece, to later become one of the most beloved musical pieces of the early 1900s. A world-renowned expert on Baroque music will open the new year: Ton Koopman will conduct the Fenice Orchestra on January 7, 2023 in their performance of Bach’s Orchestra suite no. 4 BWV 1069, the last piece Bach wrote for the court of Köthen, where he resided at the time. Following: Haydn’s La Poule and Mendelssohn’s fifth.