The Toronto Mendelssohn Singers will be performing a new arrangement of Schubert’s Winterreise, along with selections from Clara Schumann and Fanny Hensel at their next concert. Canadian baritone Brett Polegato and pianist Philip Chiu will join TMC under the baton of Jean-Sébastien Vallée.
The concert takes place on March 16.
The Music
Schubert’s Winterreise
Schubert’s song cycle (D. 911, published as Op. 89 in 1828) incorporates 24 poem written by Wilhelm Muller. It was their second collaboration after Die schöne Müllerin, composed in 1823. Poet Müller was also Imperial Librarian at Dessau in Prussia, and a soldier, and he died in 1827, most likely never having heard either work performed.
Winterreise was originally written for a tenor soloist, but Schubert himself was fond of transposing it for different voicings. It has become one of the most treasured works in the art song repertoire.
The composition is written in two main parts, each consisting of 12 songs. They are all united by a common theme, that of unrequited love. The protagonist is a young man who wanders the countryside at night contemplating his despair after his beloved leaves him for another. The unifying theme and a kind of storyline add drama and an emotional subtext to the music.
According to historical records and anecdotes of Schubert’s friends and colleagues, the composer was in a deep depression when he wrote the now famous song cycle.
The concert features a new adaptation for choir, baritone, and piano by Gregor Meyer.
Clara & Fanny
The program also includes Clara Schumann’s Ich stand in dunkle Träumen Op.13 No. 1 and Liebst du um Schönheit Op. 12 No. 2, both arranged by James McCullough.
Clara Schumann’s career as pianist, composer and piano teacher was enormously influential over the music and practice of her time. She was a child prodigy, trained by her father from a very early age. Clara was touring as a concert pianist by age 11. After marrying Robert Schumann, their eight children put a damper on her compositional output, but she regained her concert career as a widow after Robert’s early demise.
She left a number of compositions, including lieder and choral works.
Fanny Hensel’s Lockung Op. 3 No. 1 and Schöne Fremde Op. 3 No. 2 round out the concert’s second half.
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel struggled with juggling her roles as composer and woman during her lifetime, an era when deviation from traditional roles had an enormous social cost. Fanny’s burgeoning gifts as a musician and composer, while recognized by her family, were also restricted by her family so as not to ruffle the feathers of Berlin’s upper classes, which they were hoping to join. At 14, her father abruptly wrote to her that he was ending her musical education.
Felix, it had to be said, also did his part to dampen his sister’s sense of her own talents. She still composed while tending to family and other traditionally acceptable pursuits, but would hang on her brother’s opinions, and abandon anything he claimed to dislike. With a supportive husband, however, she continued to compose, and became one of Europe’s famous musical presenters of the day, using her home to program concerts for her wide circle of friends and family.
The Soloists
Brett Polegato, baritone
Brett is a regular performer on the world’s opera and concert stages, including the Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Concertgebouw, the Opéra National de Paris, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Teatro Real, Roy Thomson Hall, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall, among others. As a soloist performing Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony (Telarc) with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, he appears in the Grammy Awards’ Best Classical Recording of 2003.
Among many other guest appearances around the world, the University of Toronto graduate has also performed in Toronto in Tafelmusik’s Messiah. Most recently, he was in Vienna early in the New Year making his debut as Capulet in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette with the Theater an der Wein.
Philip Chiu, piano
Acclaimed Canadian pianist Philip Chiu was the inaugural winner of the Mécénat Musica Prix Goyer, and is a member of the Juno award-winning piano quartet Ensemble Made in Canada. In 2023, his album Fables won the Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year (Solo Artist). The recording is one of three that feature original commissions from Canadian composers such as Barbara Assiginaak and Alice Ping Yee Ho, set alongside music by Ravel and Debussy.
Along with his work as a soloist, Philip is a dedicated chamber and collaborative musician, and has appeared in recitals with renowned musicians such as James Ehnes, Regis Pasquier, and Matt Haimovitz. Along with pianist Janelle Fung, he is part of the Fung-Chiu Duo.
Philip is also an educator and coach based at McGill University.
- More information about the concert and tickets available [HERE].
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