Philharmonia Chamber Players: Verklärte Nacht

Schoenberg's string sextet Verklärte Nacht was the first piece of programme music written for chamber ensemble, and was greeted with gasps of horror at its première in 1902 due to controversial poetic references and use of a ‘non-existent’ chord. Based on a poem by Richard Dehmel, the piece tells the story of a woman walking with her lover through moonlit woods, who must tell him that she is carrying the child of another man. The lush, highly chromatic music follows the woman's emotional journey from the first line of the poem to the last: "Two people walk through bleak, cold woods... Two people walk through exalted, shining night.”

Before this is Mozart's charming Horn Quintet in E flat major, for horn, violin, two violas and cello. The unusual instrumentation provides a warm accompaniment to the characterful horn solo.

This concert is part of the Philharmonia Chamber Players series