From Bach to Offenbach

Nearly two centuries of musical history are woven into a single program — from the grand polyphony of Bach through the Classical and Romantic traditions of Vienna, all the way to Offenbach. This musical journey serves as a vivid illustration of how the language and character of European music evolved throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

In this concert, instrumental and vocal works alternate, each complementing and highlighting the nuances of the one before. Bach’s Chaconne — of which Brahms wrote, "On one stave, for a small instrument, this man has written a whole universe of the deepest thoughts and the most powerful feelings" — is performed here in Robert Schumann’s version with piano accompaniment. The program gradually unfolds through the works of Gluck, Mozart, and Haydn toward the Romantic miniatures of Schubert, Chopin, and Liszt. The evening concludes with Jacques Offenbach’s "Barcarolle," composed in 1864 for an entirely different opera and only later incorporated into The Tales of Hoffmann, which premiered after the composer’s death.