The new series of evening concerts organized by the Anthonie Keldermans Concerten Foundation in Tholen’s old town hall will start on Friday 1 November with a performance by the Van Swieten Society. With beautiful authentic instruments, the band outlines an interesting further development of the piano quartet under the title: Quartets on the Olympus.
Bigger contrasts than between the Prussian prince Louis Ferdinand, the warlike poet, the German opera reformer Carl Maria von Weber, the bohemian Jan Ladislaus Dussek and the first true romantic Robert Schumann are hardly imaginable. Yet they lived in the same time and shared the same musical language. Louis Ferdinand and Dussek were unlikely friends. Dussek was with him when the prince died at the Battle of Saalfeld and composed a heartbreaking musical epitaph. Carl Maria von Weber is today known less for his chamber music than for his operas. But his piano quartet proves the Iron Repertoire wrong. Robert Schumann achieved as a composer what he did not as a pianist: eternal musical fame. His piano quartet is one of his most classic and beloved works. With these four, you can imagine a classic Salon at the top of Olympus, where four very different geniuses share the stage together.
The Van Swieten Society is a collective of musicians passionate about classical and early romantic chamber music. The group plays with historical instruments and regularly invites visiting musicians related to the playing style. This flexible approach ensures an adventurous choice of software with different configurations.
The Van Swieten Society specializes above all in the great masters from a musically rich period, from Bach to Schumann. In addition, intensive research in international libraries continues to produce new discoveries, high-quality works that have been forgotten for various reasons and deserve to be heard again. All this leads to colorful programs with a strong theme.
The name Van Swieten Society reflects the communal, familiar nature of the early classical salon, where people experience music in good company and in solidarity and discuss it afterwards over a drink. It is also a tribute to the famous Dutch music lover and patron Baron van Swieten, to whom the band owes a lot of beautiful repertoire – Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven could count on his unconditional support. In their concerts and in the Friends of the Van Swieten Society, the musicians, surrounded by a close-knit community of music lovers, create an ideal atmosphere for intimate chamber music with softer historical instruments.
Musical life in the years 1750–1850 is characterized by an inventive, innovative and colorful musical narrative. The group wants to let the audience share in the wonder and awe of the beauty and genius of these centuries, not only through the sheet music itself, but also through the story behind the sheet music, passionately told by musicologist and fortepianist Bart van Oort.
Starts at 20:15
Admission €20
Reservations [email protected]
More information at www.keldermansconcerten.nl