Von Wagner bis Varèse

In the organizer's words:

Opera

Musiksalon // Extra: Concert as part of the Biennale for New Music of the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region "Listening with Helmholtz"

Born in Potsdam in 1821, Hermann Helmholtz, from 1883 even "von" Helmholtz, was an important physician and physicist. As the namesake of numerous schools, universities and the Helmholtz Association (with which the Musiksalon cooperated years ago), he is still a household name today. But who knows that the scientist was also a great music lover and amateur pianist? That his "theory of the perception of sound" inspired numerous composers? It was not only his contemporary Richard Wagner who read the text avidly; for the avant-gardists Edgar Varèse and Charles Ives, it was the key to a modernity that freed itself from traditional roots. Under the direction of Kapellmeister Jānis Liepiņš, this music salon combines an "improbable" program sequence that - based on quotations from Helmholtz - contrasts the Siegfried Idyll with Varèse's "Octandre" or "Density 21.5" and presents the American eccentric Ives with his music for strings. Here you can find the complete program of the Biennale for New Music of the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region "Listening with Helmholtz" (31.01.2025 to 16.02.2025). Flyer of the Biennale for New Music | PDF This content has been machine translated.