Románticos

As part of its Chamber Cycle, the Auditorio de Tenerife presents Románticos, by the Tonkünstler Ensemble Vienna.

Románticos (‘The Romantic’) is a musical proposal by the sextet made up of members of the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Vienna. It takes the listener through Romantic literature, from the opera to the Tuscany, passing through Switzerland. Strauss composed his final opera, Capriccio, based on a libretto by Stefan Zweig (a Jewish writer exiled from Austria) and premiered it in World War II in 1942 at the National Theatre in Munich. Clemens Krauss adapted the text. The opera's plot is based on the question: "First words, then music?” That theme is reflected through a string sextet that sets off a love triangle between the Countess, Flamand (the composer of the sextet), and his rival Olivier (a poet). Both men are enraptured by the Countess, to whom they profess their love. Will the music ignite the countess’s passion or will the verses win her indecisive heart?

Less well-known was Joachim Raff (Franz Liszt's secretary), who was very popular in his time. The orchestra aboard the Titanic had some of his pieces in its repertoire. His relationship with Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Hans von Bülow made him a secondary -yet influential- figure in Central European Romanticism.

Tchaikovsky wrote his final piece of chamber music in 1980 during a long stay in Florence, where he resided in the villas of his patron Nadezhda von Meck. The work highlights a good period for the composer during which he found the tranquillity he needed to compose his opera The Queen of Spades. The piece was premiered in St. Petersburg in 1892 by the city's Chamber Music Society.