Weber / Dohnányi / Martinček / Novák / Poulenc / Saint-SaënsWeber / Dohnányi / Martinček / Novák / Poulenc / Saint-Saëns

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, composers became increasingly interested in the technical and sonic possibilities of the flute. A compositional frenzy erupted after the premiere of Debussy’s Syrinx, a three-minute composition for solo flute which, thanks to its exotic character, caught the ears of other musicians. The aria for flute and piano was written after the young gifted flutist Eleanor Baker complained to Ernő von Dohnányi that Brahms had not written a sonata for flute. The composer decided to reverse the injustice and write one sonata “in his stead”. The three-movement piece by Jan Novák describes the spring awakening of nature, which has always been accompanied by ritual dances. The Czech composer, a passionate Latin scholar, was inspired by Latin texts when composing his melodies. The musicality and virtuosity of the works for clarinet by Carl Maria von Weber stem from his good friendship with the clarinettist Heinrich Baermann, for whom several works were composed. Francois Poulenc wrote a sonata for clarinet, in turn, at the instigation of Benny Goodman. Together they were to premiere the work, but the composer died unexpectedly, and Leonard Bernstein ended up sitting at the piano for the first performance at Carnegie Hall. The Tarantella, a stylisation of a southern Italian dance in 6/8 time, was composed by Camille Saint-Saëns at the age of 22. It was written at the suggestion of Rossini, who was organising a musical soirée in his Parisian private home and wanted to bring the young composer into the public eye in this way.

Virtuoso flute and clarinet passages will be performed by pedagogical colleagues from the Academy of Performing Arts Katarína Turčinová and Jozef Luptáčik, the first clarinettist of the Slovak Philharmonic.