NOSPR / Wit / Romantic Openings - NOSPR

The broad string phrases that precede the blast of horns evoke a sense of military grandeur – these are the opening sounds of what is thought to be the first German Romantic opera. Der Freischütz (The Marksman) brought Carl Maria von Weber more success than he could have anticipated, and over time, the overture has become more famous than the opera itself – making it a popular and fitting choice to begin many a symphonic concert.

In the same vein, each piece in the present concert programme traces its roots to the Romantic idea of open work. Though Franz Liszt’s Les Préludes (Preludes) constitutes a self-contained symphonic poem, its very title hints at much more – the Latin word praeludere means 'to play beforehand'. The Hungarian composer drew the concept from a literary source, namely Alphonse de Lamartine’s Nouvelles méditations poétiques (New Poetical Meditations). Liszt appended this highly free-form work with several personal reflections, including the following: 'What is life but a series of preludes to that unknown hymn whose first solemn note is intoned by death?'

Few composers could afford such powerful and evocative openings to their monumental works as the ones that Richard Wagner, the creator of Romantic musical drama, gave his compositions. His overtures carry weight not only because of their powerful instrumentation or the need for 'endless melody'. Both the overture to the opera Rienzi and the prelude to Act III of Lohengrin have the same emotional charge: the sense that something grand is beginning – a musical ritual that brings ancient myths and legends back to life.

Krzysztof Siwoń

* The quotation from the original text in English is cited here after Betsy Schwarm, ‘Les Préludes. Work by Liszt’, Britannica.com (accessed on 7th June 2025): https://www.britannica.com/topic/Les-Preludes