Italienreise

The third orchestral concert also refers to a premiere: just before Donizetti's ‘Liebestrank’, we are travelling south with four composers.
Rubén Dubrovsky: Even before Goethe's time, an ‘Italian journey’ was considered a compulsory programme to deepen one's education. This was also true at the time of Mendelssohn, whose ‘Italian Journey’ is one of his most popular works, and more than half a century later for Richard Strauss, who was inspired to compose his first symphonic poem there.

Strawinsky, on the other hand, let Italy travel to him, so to speak.
RD: For ‘Pulcinella’, a ballet score that he later moulded into a suite, he drew on the works of several Italian composers, including Domenico Gallo. I am looking forward to juxtaposing Gallo's originals with the ‘adaptations’. I will explain in short presentations how Stravinsky created his own originals!

Richard Strauss »Aus Italien«, op. 16 (IV: »Neapolitanisches Volksleben«)
Igor Strawinsky Suite from the Ballet »Pulcinella«
Domenico Gallo trio sonates (excerpts)
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Symphony No. 4, op. 90 (»Italienische«)