We invite you to an evening with the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra, filled with works by four Italian composers. Their names went down in golden letters in the history of opera, which is why it will be an interesting change to get to know their work for strings – singing and lively and full of passion and expression, so often rightly associated with music written by artists born on the Apennine Peninsula.

Six string sonatas by Gioachino Rossini were composed in 1804, when the future author of The Barber of Seville and Guglielmo Tell was only twelve years old! These are his earliest surviving works. They were created during the young artist’s summer stay in Ravenna, where he was hosted by Agostino Triossi, an amateur double bass player friend, who contributed to quite complex double bass parts in those sonatas. The composition is unusual, as these works are intended for two violins, cello and double bass (hence the term “sonate a quattro” referring to the number of performers). Although they may not be as famous and popular as Rossini’s operas, they are full of inventiveness and humour, which makes them a pleasure to listen to.

Giuseppe Verdi’s String Quartet in E minor is, for a change, a composition of a mature, sixty-year-old composer. It was created in March 1873 in Naples, where the artist stayed awaiting the first staging of his Aida in that city at the Teatro di San Carlo. Unfortunately, due to the sudden indisposition of the title-part performer, Teresa Stolz, the performance had to be postponed. Verdi used his free time to compose his only chamber work. The premiere took place on April 1 of the same year in the hotel where the artist was staying and was heard by several guests. Verdi did not attach much importance to this piece. He later wrote, “I don't know if the quartet is beautiful or ugly, but I know it’s a quartet.” Despite the composer’s distanced opinion, the quality of this expressive, emotional music is beyond doubt. Then we will listen to Crisantemi (or chrysanthemum), a one-movement string quartet by Giacomo Puccini. The subtitle of the work is: Alla memoria di Amedeo di Savoia Duca d'Aosta and refers to the circumstances of the composition, i.e. the commemoration of King Amadeus I of Savoy, Duke of Aosta, who died in 1890. It took Puccini just one night to write this short, melancholic piece.

Undoubtedly, the most popular work by Ottorino Respighi today is the Pines of Rome. During his lifetime, his operas, such as the Belfagor and La Fiamma were quite popular but are rarely staged nowadays. The Trittico botticelliano from 1927 is a lesser known, but noteworthy, colourful and expressive composition, which consists of three movements, inspired by Sandro Botticelli’s paintings: Primavera, Adoration of the Magi and The Birth of Venus. This piece will crown the concert by the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra under the baton of its Artistic Director Joseph Swensen.