We cordially invite you to a fairy-tale concert conducted by Lionel Sow, the new director of the NFM Choir. There is only one work in the programme. Its author is Carl Reinecke – a composer somewhat forgotten now, but during his lifetime one of the most recognizable composers of his era.

Die wilden Schwäne op. 164 is a cantata from 1881 for a choir, three solo voices (soprano, alto, baritone), piano, harp, two horns and cello. It is based on a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen from 1838 and tells the story of a princess rescuing eleven brothers from a spell cast by a hostile stepmother, who, to get rid of them, turned them into the eponymous swans. Reinecke’s melodic, accessible and suggestive music perfectly reflects the mood of the story, which engages the listener and at the same time proves how wrongly forgotten the author of this charming composition is. The work consists of sixteen movements.

Reinecke, who lived from 1824–1910, was a student of Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Ferenc Liszt. He was valued as a composer, pianist, teacher and promoter, and the institutions he managed included, among others the Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Breslauer Singakademie. He is most remembered today as an influential teacher at the Leipzig Conservatory, where his students included, Max Bruch, Edvard Grieg and Leoš Janáček. His oeuvre is very rich and includes operas, operettas, three symphonies, numerous chamber works and instrumental concertos (violin, cello, harp, flute, and four piano concertos).