-

LUCA Campus Lemmens, Leuven 

Concert Hall

Metamorphosis

Concert

LUCA Strings 
Martijn Vink, conductor
 

Arnold Schönberg’s (1874-1951) Verklärte Nacht is a symphonic poem that was originally composed for string sextet. The text of the poem written by Richard Dehmel served as the main source of inspiration. The text’s theme is simple but universal: two people in love being together, the pregnant woman, however, carrying the child of another man. Schönberg follows the structure of the poem, which as such can be seen as the ‘programme’: after a short summary the woman confesses her pregnancy, after which the man confirms his love for her ánd for the baby and closes her in his arms.

The work Metamorphosen by Richard Strauss (1864-1949), composed towards the end of his life and in troubling times of war, gives voice to the destruction of Germany during the Second World War, the ‘metamorphosis’ of Germany, the downfall of a proud country to a ruined, weak state. To emphasise the distress, Schönberg makes use of a far from obvious contrapuntal style.

Guillaume Lekeu (1870-1894) wrote an impressive and promising oeuvre during his far too short life (he unfortunately died at the age of twenty-four after having eaten a sorbet contaminated with typhus). Repeatedly his work gives evidence of a certain concern, melancholy even. Although the Adagio pour Quattuor d’ Orchestre (1891) also tends towards this kind of gloominess, especially in the beginning, the composer does not realise this by means of dragging melodic lines, but through intense and powerful phrases. Every now and then, however, hope and desire come to the surface…

Programme

Schönberg: Verklärte Nacht

Strauss: Metamorphosen

Lekeu: Adagio pour Quattuor d’ Orchestre

LUCA in concert

LUCA organizes about 25 concerts every year. Solo recitals, chamber music, choral and orchestral works as well as the large symphonic repertoire from a period spanning more than four centuries are alternately discussed.

In addition to these concerts, you can also regularly see students at work during bachelor's and master's theses and on concert theses. These are freely accessible to the public.