Swan Songs - Schubert, Heine, Chekhov

Tobias Berndt (baritone) and Johannes Tolle (piano) perform. Narrator: Gerd Heinz. Franz Schubert's "Schwanengesang" is considered one of the most impressive works of Romantic song composition: existentially touching songs that explore longing, hope, and farewell. What appears as a cycle is a mixtum compositum of three different compositional cycles, each with its own distinct character and expressive strength, which the editor has compiled into a single work. The various musical sections are contrasted by narrator Gerd Heinz with literary swan songs to clearly distinguish the three different styles on one hand, and to illustrate the suggested transition from Romanticism to Modernity through texts on the other: This includes a poem by Heinrich Heine, which the poet wrote at the end of his life in his "matratzengruft" (mattress grave), as well as the one-act play "Swan Song" by Anton Chekhov. So: Swan songs by Schubert, Heine, and Chekhov.