Music that goes beyond ordinary limits.

This May Welsh National Opera performs works by three great composers, all exploring the idea of transcendence. Read on as WNO’s Music Director Lothar Koenigs shares his thoughts on the programme.

Richard Strauss Four Last Songs

Reflections on a life
In the early 1930s Strauss became close to the Jewish librettist Stefan Zweig. Their partnership brought out a comical, lighter side in Strauss’ music. However, when Hitler gained power in 1933 their successful collaboration was cut short. The Gestapo intercepted a letter from Strauss to his friend that congratulated him on their latest success. Hitler made sure that they were not to collaborate publicly again. The family of Strauss’ daughter-in-law,who was also Jewish, was sent away to a concentration camp.

Written in 1948, Four Last Songs is an absolute must for those who have never heard this series of songs performed live before. Lisa Milne (Sian, The Sacrifice) will perform a heart-breaking rendition of this beautiful work. Strauss died soon after composing this setting of Hesse’s poem, giving poignancy to the words and leaving a deep impression. This performance guarantees to move you deeply.

"Strauss was 84 years old and ‘weary of wandering’; he was looking
back on a life rich in triumphs although latterly blighted by cares
and illness… The question I ask myself again and again is how
could Strauss write in this way after the Second World War, with
all its cruelty, with its depths of human suffering? Up to now I have
found no answer that convinces me." Lothar Koenigs

"And, unwatched, the soul would hover on free wings to live, in night's magic circle, profoundly and thousandfold."
(English translation of Beim Schlafengehen)

Mahler Symphony No 1
Composed in 1889, Mahler’s symphony takes the audience on a vigorous, lively journey of the imagination. Listen for the hunting horns and bird songs in the first movement, the waltz in the second movement, and the interruption of the street musicians in the third. The world conjured up by Mahler’s symphony will carry you away.

"The long gestation period of Mahler’s First Symphony (1884-
1888) marks the period in which Mahler developed from a
conductor with creative tendencies into a first rate composer." Lothar Koenigs

Ives The Unanswered Question
Ives called this enigmatic work, written in the first decade of the twentieth century, his "cosmic drama". Leonard Bernstein once said in a lecture about the piece, "the music says it all, and better than a thousand words."

"The solo trumpet has the function of the questioner. It ‘puts
the question’ seven times in slightly varied forms. Six times the
woodwind ‘answer’ the question, first timidly and with restraint,
then ever more insistently and finally vehemently, stridently. It
seems that the answers don’t ring true. And so the last time the
question is asked very quietly, it remains unanswered and fades
away…" Lothar Koenigs

Tickets cost £10-£30
To book tickets click here or call St David's Hall box office on 029 2087 8444

Conductor Lothar Koenigs Soprano Lisa Milne