25 December 2020
Fabio Luisi conducts Verdi and Diepenbrock
Christmas Matinee
The Netherlands
Fabio Luisi returns to the Concertgebouworkest to conduct a very special Christmas Matinee that is both sacred and festive, with brillant ballet music and songs by Giuseppe Verdi juxtaposed with a beautiful work by the late-romantic Dutch composer Alphons Diepenbrock.
Sacred and festive
The Concertgebouworkest is thrilled to welcome Fabio Luisi back at the helm after more than six years. This Christmas Matinee’s remarkable programme connects Italy and the Netherlands, but also the sacred and the festive aspects of Christmas.
Irresistible
A ballet in every opera’s third act, as was the custom in Paris, was sacrilege to Italians. Grudgingly at first, Verdi gave in to the obligation to add ballet music to his operas in order to have them performed at the Opéra de Paris. But Verdi always delivered - the results were astonishing. Don Carlos’s ballet contains irresistible solos for violin and cello. In 8 Romances, Verdi’s later compatriot Luciano Berio saw studies for his operas, including Don Carlos. He orchestrated the song cycle respectfully, but with a contemporary ear.
Alphons Diepenbrock
This season we commemorate the fact that Dutch composer Alfons Diepenbrock (1862-1921) died a century ago. His Lydische nacht (Lydian Night, originally with vocalists) is performed in a purely instrumental arrangement by Eduard Reeser. Diepenbrock was not only the Netherlands’ most successfulk late-romantic composer, he was also a friend of both Gustav Mahler and former chief-conductor of the Concertgebouworkest Willem Mengelberg. In Diepenbrock’s late work, of which Lydian Night is a highlight, echoes of Mahler and Debussy may be heard in what is otherwise a very distinctive personal style.