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Beethoven / Cappella Aquileia / Bosch - Music for Theatre 1 [CD]

Beethoven / Cappella Aquileia / Bosch - Music for Theatre 1 [CD]

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SKU:405161

The focus of our second collaborative venture with the Cappella Aquileia and Marcus Bosch for the Beethoven Year is formed by the complete recording of The Ruins of Athens, an incidental composition penned by Beethoven for the opening of the recently constructed theater in Pest (today: Budapest) in 1812 and an occasional work set to a text by the then popular writer August von Kotzebue. Those who perform this work today are faced with a dilemma. If they perform Beethoven's music without the spoken text, then a work in which language and music are closely intertwined is reduced to an arbitrary sequence of musical numbers. However, if they perform The Ruins of Athens with Kotzebue's text, then they confront audiences with a political metaphor that without explanation would cause today's listeners to shake their heads (at least) in bewilderment. In a new version Kai Weßler has endeavored to update Beethoven's important idea of a classical-humanistic heritage embodied by Pallas Athena and to free it from the political connotations current during his times (and from Hungarian nationalism). The twofold goal was on the one hand to situate The Ruins of Athens in it's time of composition during a period of social and political upheavals and on the other hand once again to render audible and intelligible the symbolism of the work (Athens as the cradle of European civilization, etc.). In order to find a language that can hold it's own with the pathos of Beethoven's music, Weßler assembled fragments from poems by Friedrich Schiller, mounting them in a collage. It hardly needs to be stressed that Beethoven not only esteemed Schiller as a poet but also shared his idea that art exists to change the world as a "moral instance" (instead of merely supporting the high and mighty).

Tracklist:

  1. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: Overture
  2. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: Athene Bin Ich
  3. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: No. 1, Tochter Des Mächtigen Zeus!
  4. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: Versöhnt? Mein Vater?
  5. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: Ohne Verschulden Knechtschaft Erdulden
  6. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: No. 2, Wo Sind Wir Nur? Ist Das Athen?
  7. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: No. 3, Du Hast In Deines Ärmels Falten
  8. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: Edler Freund
  9. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: No. 4, Marcia Alla Turca
  10. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: Das Griechenland Der Götter Ist Verloren
  11. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: No. 5a, In Des Herzens Heilig Stille Räume
  12. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: Einen Neuen Tempel Will Ich Errichten
  13. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: No. 5b, Und Die Neuen Bürger Ziehen
  14. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: No. 6a, Herbei Ihr Musen!
  15. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: No. 6b, Mit Reger Freude, Die Nie Erkaltet
  16. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: No. 7a, Wir Tragen Empfängliche Herzen Im Busen
  17. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: No. 7b, Will Unser Genius Noch Einen Wunsch Gewähren
  18. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: Freude Heißt Die Starke Feder
  19. Die Ruinen Von Athen, Op. 113: No. 8, Heil Unsrem König!
  20. Meeresstille Und Glückliche Fahrt, Op. 112
  21. Opferlied, Op. 121b

UPC: 761203763429
Label: Cpo Records
Release Date: 8.14.20
Format: CD

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