Yvette Mondok & László Borbély Chamber Recital

“I wrote this for Marie,” confessed Franz Liszt of his love song beginning with the words O quand je dors, referring to his lover, Countess Marie d’Agoult, the mother of his three children. It was a common practice among 19th-century composers to set their romantic feelings, or indeed their heartbreak, to music in the form of songs. The concert featuring opera singer Yvette Mondok and pianist László Borbély promises a fascinating overview of these works. The audience will hear works by various composers, in different languages, exploring themes of fulfilled and unrequited love, loneliness and longing. To highlight just a few masterpieces: Quand tu chantes, bercée, also composed by Liszt, is a kind of lullaby in which lovers rest in each other’s arms. Liebst du um Schönheit is a love plea in which Clara Schumann appeals to Robert Schumann: love me, but not for my beauty or my youth, but for love’s sake. Ernst von Dohnányi, meanwhile, recounts romantic episodes through Hungarian folk melodies in his cycle Hungarian Folk Songs.