Bard Music Festival
Program Eight • Literary Romanticisms
August 17
Among his peers, Berlioz was by no means the only eminent writer on music. Robert Schumann, whom he befriended in Germany, was a similarly influential critic with a comparably vibrant literary style; Ferdinand Hiller, Berlioz’s close friend for 40 years, corresponded with all the leading musicians of Europe; American pianist-composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk was another early memoirist; and Fanny Mendelssohn, as her correspondence reveals, was an astute commentator on musical life in Berlin. Felix Mendelssohn, with whom Berlioz made friends in Italy, was a true man of letters who met and impressed Goethe as a child, became a skilled amateur poet, and wrote some 8,000 letters in German, French, and English.
Program Eight brings these and other composers into focus through works including Mendelssohn’s posthumously published Second String Quintet and Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été. Set to poems by Berlioz’s friend Théophile Gautier, the cycle—a jewel of the art song repertoire—will be heard in its first incarnation, with each song sung to piano accompaniment by a different vocal soloist.
Program
1 pm • Preconcert Talk with Dana Gooley
1:30 pm • Performance: Jana McIntyre, soprano; Rebecca Ringle Kamarei, mezzo-soprano; Noah Stewart, tenor; Tyler Duncan, baritone; Piers Lane, Anna Polonsky, and Orion Weiss, piano; Balourdet Quartet; and others
Hector Berlioz (1803–69)
Rêverie et caprice, Op. 8 (1841)
Les nuits d’été, Op. 7 (1841)
Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–47)
From Sechs Lieder, Op. 1 (1846)
Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47)
String Quintet No. 2, Op. 87 (1845)
Robert Schumann (1810–56)
Andante and Variations, Op. 46 (1843)
Piano works by Ferdinand Hiller (1811–85), Stephen Heller (1813–88); and Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829–69)
Plan Your Visit
Eat & Stay
Nearby villages and towns in the Hudson Valley boast a large selection of restaurants, as well as a variety of hotels, motels, inns, and bed & breakfasts.
Eat & StayDirections
Bard College’s main campus is located in Annandale-on-Hudson (a hamlet of Red Hook), New York, on the east bank of the Hudson River, about 90 miles north of New York City and 220 miles southwest of Boston. The Taconic State Parkway and the New York State Thruway provide the most direct routes to our campus. Click the Google map below, or get directions by entering the following address into your GPS: 35 Henderson Circle Drive, Red Hook, NY 12571.
From the East
If you are traveling from east of the Hudson River in New York State, take the Taconic State Parkway to the Red Hook / Route 199 exit, drive west on Route 199 through the village of Red Hook to Route 9G, turn right onto Route 9G, drive north 1.7 miles, turn left onto Entrance Road, then turn left onto Campus Road.
From the West
If you are traveling from west of the Hudson River, take the New York State Thruway (I-87) to exit 19 (Kingston), take Route 209 (changes to Route 199 at the Hudson River) over the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge to Route 9G, turn left onto Route 9G, drive north 3.3 miles, turn left onto Entrance Road, then turn left onto Campus Road.
About the Venue
Olin Hall
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