Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder were written in 1857/8 while the composer was working on Tristan und Isolde, and two of the songs are directly labelled ‘studies’ for the opera. The texts were written by Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of one of Wagner’s patrons, with whom it is sometimes claimed Wagner had an affair. The first edition of 1862 had no name attributed to the text, and it was not until after her death in 1902 that this was revealed. The great German tenor Christoph Prégardien and revered pianist-composer Michael Gees perform these alongside a selection of songs by Henri Duparc, who was heavily influenced by Wagner. Although Duparc lived until he was 85, he stopped composing at the age of 37, and later destroyed most of his music. Thankfully, he left 17 songs, that are considered among the finest of the French song repertoire. In between these groups, we hear one of Michael Gees’s legendary improvisations.
This event is a live and live-streamed event.
For live, in-person events, all our seating is unreserved. This means you are guaranteed a seat in your chosen area, but not a specific seat. In order to allow for social distancing, you will be seated as an individual or as a group, based on the number of tickets you booked for this concert. For groups of more than 10, please phone or email the box office to book your tickets.
Live-streamed performances will be available to watch live in our Digital Concert Hall at the advertised performance time and will be available to watch again and on demand until the end of November. A link to the livestream will be sent to the ticketholder via email in advance of the performance. ‘Hybrid’ tickets are also available, valid for both in person and for the Digital Concert Hall, at an additional £3 to the in-person price. For information about online viewing and to learn more all ticket options, including the Digital Concert Hall, click here.
The performance duration is approximately 1 hour 15 minutes and there will be no interval.
For more information, click here.