Chopin in Vienna

Chopin in Vienna - Under the City, Above the Stars

Piano Concert

Renate Hudler

An extraordinary piano concert by the virtuoso Viennese pianist Renate Hudler about longing, departure, and inner freedom.

Chopin's path led him to Vienna twice for a short time, but these months left deep traces in his music. Between brilliance and solitude, between coffeehouse and concert hall, a sound world was formed here that still touches us today. Full of homesickness and the impossibility of returning to revolution-torn Poland, he spent Christmas in Vienna alone, filled with longing and emotions that are reflected in his Mazurkas, in the Scherzo op. 20 with a Polish Christmas carol, and in the moving Nocturne in C-sharp minor.

Living near St. Peter's Church, Chopin encountered musical role models such as Johann Nepomuk Hummel, listened to the dance music of the time in Viennese venues, and transformed it into his unmistakable musical language. Thus, the sparkling Grande Valse brillante op. 18 also emerged in Vienna.

When orchestral rehearsals failed, Chopin improvised. The spirit of these improvisations lives on in the Fantaisie-Impromptu op. 66, a musical flow of thought between virtuosity and introspection. Jealousy, longing for love, and a passion for opera accompanied him as well: After attending Rossini's Otello, Chopin felt like Othello himself - a motif that Franz Liszt picks up in Venezia e Napoli - Canzone.

The crypt is pleasantly temperate at any time of the year.

Program:
• Frédéric Chopin: Waltz op. 18
• Frédéric Chopin: Fantaisie-Impromptu op. 66
• Frédéric Chopin: Scherzo op. 20
• Franz Liszt: Venezia e Napoli - Canzone
• Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne in C-sharp minor (posthumous)