Die schöne Magelone

The tenor Roger Padullés, the soprano María Escobar and the pianist Iain Burnside, accompanied by the actress Mercè Aránega bring us “Die schöne Magelone” (The Fair Magelone) by Johannes Brahms.

On the death of Robert Schumann, his widow Clara finds his young disciple, Johannes Brahms, to be an important source of support. They both lived for a further forty years and the nature of their relationship has always been subject to speculation.

Brahms’ songs based on the texts of The Fair Magelone by Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853), are the climax of his lider production, his most substantial cycle. Written in around 1860, these 15 songs describe an epic chivalrous love story through an improbable, or to our eyes even comical, sequence of events. However, Brahms and Clara never took this story lightly and today we are going to explore the reason why.

Traditionally this play has been performed in two different ways: with the non-musical parts of the story narrated between each song or as separate songs which have no bearing on the plot. The show that we are bringing you has an alternative focus, with the performance of the actress Mercè Aránega, as Clara Schumann, and stage direction by Ibán Beltrán.