Reflexionen über „frei, aber einsam“ - Composition commissions issued to Trojahn, Verdú and Hanke

Hannoversche Gesellschaft für Neue Musik e.V., Germany

To mark its 25^th anniversary Hanover’s new music society Hannoversche Gesellschaft für Neue Musik e.V. (hgnm) is planning a concert with premieres reflecting on the “frei, aber einsam” (free but lonely) theme from today’s perspective. The point of departure here is a familiar joint work that references Hanover: one that was written for Hanover, as it were – the so-called F-A-E Sonata, a joint composition by Robert Schumann, Albert Dietrich and Johannes Brahms for their friend, the young violinist Joseph Joachim, who lived and worked in Hanover at that time. The movements use the motif tones F-A-E that are the initials to Joachim’s slogan. The premiere described by Schumann himself as an F-A-E “surprise” sonata was held in 1853 at Schumann’s house in Düsseldorf. Afterwards Schumann elaborated from this composition his third violin sonata (again with an F-A-E motif) which was premiered – this time in Hanover – by Clara Schumann and Joseph Joachim in January 1854. The hgnm wishes to pick up again on the conceptual background to this composition and once again topicalize the then motto “frei, aber einsam”: with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation three composers will each write a new piece of work where they present their own, modern-day view of the “frei, aber einsam” motto. In line with the conceptual link to the FAE Sonata associated with Hanover because of Joseph Joachim, the choice of composers – Manfred Trojahn, José María Sánchez-Verdú and Stefan Johannes Hanke – also picks up on the Düsseldorf-Hanover link.

June 6^th 2012
Galerie Herrenhausen, Hanover

Further Information:
www.kunstfestspiele.hannover.de 
www.hgnm.de