Diversity and unity
The ‘Liedtage XVII’ entice visitors with soundscapes from the Goethe era to the modern day
In early summer, the next Liedtage XVII will take place at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar. The 17th edition of this stylish concert series, from 4 to 29 June, will once again focus on diversity and unity, with songs from the Goethe era to Franz Liszt and his circle to Benjamin Britten. Admission to all concerts is free.
The melodious opening on Wednesday, 4 June at 7:30 pm in the Saal Am Palais bears the motto ‘Great Opus – Small Cycle’. The focus is on song cycles by Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy and Alban Berg.
‘Many composers wanted to counteract the fleeting nature of songs by combining their song productions into cycles and generating a context that went beyond the sum of its parts,’ explains the artistic director of the Liedtage, Prof. Karl-Peter Kammerlander.
The series continues on Wednesday, 18 June at 7:30 p.m. in the Saal Am Palais with a concert by the English Lied class, which will have spent the previous three days working with guest professor Richard Stokes from the Royal Academy of Music in London. In the master class's final concert, students will sing songs by Britten, Gurney, Butterworth, Warlock, Ireland and others.
‘English composers often indulged in tradition and tended to be enthusiastic about neo-romanticism,‘ says Karl-Peter Kammerlander. The concert will be jointly presented by Richard Stokes and Lied interpretation professor Thomas Steinhöfel.
‘Composers around Goethe’ is the title of a song recital on Wednesday, 25 June at 7:30 pm in the Saal Am Palais. The programme includes works by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's favourite composers Philipp Christoph Kayser, Johann Friedrich Reichardt and Carl Friedrich Zelter, as well as the grand masters Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert and Goethe admirers such as Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.
The focus will also be on settings of the lyrical cantata ‘Serafina’ by Christoph Martin Wieland, with commentary by musicology students.
The Lied Days XVII will conclude on Sunday, 29 June at 7:30 p.m. in the Festsaal Fürstenhaus with songs by Liszt, among others. Under the title ‘Franz Liszt and his environment’, however, not only compositions by Liszt will be performed, but also by his pupil Conrade Ansorge.
‘The international nature of the Lied and of Franz Liszt in particular is demonstrated by the fact that the American soprano Uma Singh has made him the subject of a research project,’ says Karl-Peter Kammerlander. ’Awarded a Fulbright scholarship, the singer is particularly dedicated to musical exchange between the vocal and piano parts in the great Romantic narrative tradition.’
[22 May 2025]