WEIMAR: THE CRADLE OF MUSICAL TALENT

April 19 | Italian Academy

Vsevolod Dvorkin, piano
Sergey Antonov, cello

Illustrated talk by Stephen Johnson

Bach — Cello Suite No.1 in G major
Mendelssohn — Cello Sonata No.2 in D. major
Liszt — Piano Sonata in B minor

Whatever Weimar may have come to symbolize in the twentieth century, it was once a beacon of culture. In 1816, Grand Duke Carl August (1775—1828) defied the Congress of Viennas conservative absolutism and founded a liberal constitution in Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. The twelve-year-old Mendelssohn visited Weimar five years later, making a huge impression on the eminent writer Goethe, one of Carl August’s privy counselors. In 1842, Liszt was appointed court composer. Long before all this, Bach had served as court organist at Weimar. Alongside performances of some of these three composer’s finest instrumental works, this concert examines the Golden Age of a city that became a place of refuge in troubled times.