on the tracks of the swiss symphony

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was naturally not the only artist to travel through Switzerland. Robert Schumann, for example, also followed in his footsteps. When he arrived from Furka as a 19-year-old wanderer, Schumann wrote the following in his diary on 5 September 1829: “first sight of the Gotthard road and my longings – Andermatt from afar – first Italian sounds – arrival in Andermatt – dinner – strong wine – cloudy sky – very expensive in Andermatt – walk to the Urnerloch tunnel – leaves me cold – the Devil’s Bridge and the foaming waves – too wild”. Schumann’s description of the Andermatt region might seem somewhat ambivalent and disgruntled, but that is no reason for us not to perform his overture based on Goethe’s epic poem “Hermann und Dorothea”. This overture was born out of the spirit of the revolution that took place in Germany in 1848/49; based on Goethe’s poem about a love affair at the time of the French Revolution, it was composed just two years after the German uprising reached Schumann’s then home town of Dresden. The core theme of the work is unmistakably the “Marseillaise”.

Not even Lucerne found Schumann’s complete favour on his Swiss travels. He deemed it “a friendly little Italian town” with “very dead streets” at the foot of “grumpy Pilatus”. This “Italian town” was the birthplace of Schnyder von Wartensee, one of the great Swiss composing personalities of the 19th century, who grew up in the shadow of its “grumpy” mountain. Our programme here features Schnyder’s First Symphony, which has been revived especially for this occasion by the Swiss Orchestra. The original manuscript has been liberated from its archive, transcribed into modern notation and made playable. Now nothing stands in the way of a rediscovery of this top-level music.

And Raphaela Gromes, one of Germany’s most successful contemporary musicians, will play not one, but two cello concertos. Our programme includes the popular First Concerto by Camille Saint-Saëns, which gave him his ultimate breakthrough as one of the leading French composers of the late 19th century, and at the same time helped to make the cello a widely accepted solo instrument. And our evening will be rounded off by an innovative cello concerto by Marie Jaëll, a highly successful French pianist and composer who was also a highly regarded student of Saint-Saëns.