One of the instruments mentioned in The Bible is the harp. According to the Book of Genesis, the first musician, Jubal, played the harp. King David accompanied himself on this instrument while singing psalms, and Christian iconography is full of visions of heaven with choirs of angels praising the Lord in this way. The sound of the harp will fill the Romantic Salon in the Pan Tadeusz Museum, played by the esteemed virtuoso Magdalena Hoffmann, principal harpist of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, already known to the Wrocław audience. She collaborates with the Deutsche Grammophon record label. During the recital, the artist will perform a programme containing pieces from various eras: from the late Renaissance, through Baroque and Romanticism, to the present day.

Hoffmann will begin the concert with the brilliant Fantasy in E flat major by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, son of Johann Sebastian. His work is a bridge between Baroque and Classicism. From Handel’s  oeuvre, Hoffmann has chosen the solemn Overture from Suite in G minor. The artist will introduce listeners to a completely different world of sounds in Le Rappel des oiseaux from the Suite in E minor by Jean-Philippe Rameau, another composer representing the Baroque era. He is known for works inspired by nature – this short composition, in which the composer references birdsong, is one of them. Themes of birds will also appear in the short, atmospheric and mysterious Vogel als Prophet from Robert Schumann’s Waldszenen. Hoffmann will next play two other works by this Romantic composer: the meditative Einsame Blumen, also from the Forest Scenes, and the slow, delicate Warum? from the Fantasiestücke.

Maurice Ravel was one of the many composers inspired by the music of the Baroque period. A work clearly inspired by Baroque is Le Tombeau de Couperin, written in 1917. Hoffmann chose the brilliant, graceful Prélude opening this suite. Jacques de la Presle is another French composer, younger than Ravel, whose music will be included in the recital programme. His Le Jardin mouillé is spectacular and at the same time atmospheric, and the author delights in exploring the colour possibilities of the harp.

The potential of this instrument was explored in a completely different, although equally intriguing way, by the excellent 20th-century Japanese artist Tōru Takemitsu. Stanza II is a composition for harp and tape, written in 1971, full of surprising and fresh sound effects. With John Dowland’s melancholic, slow Semper Dowland, semper dolens, we will go back for a while to the music of the late Renaissance. Benjamin Britten's Suite op. 83, is one of the most important works written in the 20th century for harp. Hoffmann will end her recital with the angst-filled Fantasy in A minor, written by Johann Sebastian Bach’s eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.