by Alessandra Ressa
The last minute change in the program of Verdi theater’s third appointment with the concert season in Trieste should not disappoint its loyal audience. The city welcomes back young German director Nikolas Nägele to lead Verdi’s orchestra through two extraordinary works by Anton Bruckner and Richard Wagner.
Symphony n. 4, known as Romantic is considered Anton Bruckner’s masterpiece. The symphony’s nickname Romantic was used by the composer himself. This was at the height of the Romantic movement in the arts as depicted, among others, in the operas like Lohengrin and Siegfried by Richard Wagner.
It is believed that the symphony was performed before the fall of Berlin in a concert on 12 April 1945. In it, medieval images of castles, battles, religious processions, brave knights serenading their beloved ones are evoked. Just close your eyes and listen, and let the music carry you away.
The popular composition will no longer follow Alexander von Zemlinsky’s Psalm 83, which will probably be rescheduled during the concert season, but will be introduced by Wagner’s Lohengrin prelude, another romantic masterpiece that takes its inspiration from ancient medieval German tales.
The repertoire has been so smoothly selected that it will not only offer the listener the most natural transition from one composer to another, but will undoubtedly be very welcomed by Verdi’s Triestine audience, notoriously appreciative of Wagner.
The prelude comes from the opera Lohengrin. The most popular part of the opera is the Bridal Chorus, better known as Here Comes the Bride, often played as a processional at weddings.
The concert will be held on Saturday October 1st at 6 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online or at the Verdi theater ticket office. Check opening hours on Verdi’s website www.teatroverdi-trieste.com.
