Ein Heldenleben at Milton Court

Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, completed in 1844, is one of the most beloved works of the violin repertoire. Written for his friend Ferdinand David, leader of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the concerto emerged from a period of professional turmoil as the composer reluctantly took up a post in Berlin before returning to Leipzig to complete the work.

Listening Notes:

Unlike traditional concertos, the piece flows seamlessly across its three movements. The first, Allegro molto appassionato, opens with the soloist’s soaring entry, played on the E string for maximum expressivity. A fully written-out cadenza, placed at the heart of the movement, showcases both technical brilliance and an impassioned lyricism. The Andante follows, offering a moment of introspection before the Allegro molto vivace finale bursts forth with Mendelssohn’s signature lightness and dazzling virtuosity. Echoes of A Midsummer Night’s Dream can be heard in its quicksilver energy, while interludes add warmth and charm.

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First conceived in 1898 during a retreat in the Bavarian mountains, Ein Heldenleben was Strauss's modern take on the heroic ideal. The composer’s characteristic wit and irony are present from the outset: ‘Since Beethoven’s Eroica is so unpopular with our conductors today and hence rarely performed, I am filling the void with a tone poem of substantial length on a similar theme. It is titled A Hero’s Life, and while it has no funeral march, it does have lots of horns, horns being quite the thing to express heroism.’

Strauss completed the work by the end of the year, and its premiere in Frankfurt in 1899 immediately sparked controversy. Many critics derided it as an act of vanity, arguing that Strauss had made himself the hero of the piece—an accusation he took in stride, especially when those same critics found themselves caricatured in the movement he called ‘Hero’s Adversaries’, with its chattering woodwinds and pompous brass interjections. Yet the work’s scale and emotional depth transcended such disputes, cementing its place as one of the defining orchestral works of the late Romantic era.

Ein Heldenleben comprises six sections: The Hero, The Hero’s Adversaries, The Hero’s Companion, The Hero’s Deeds of War, The Hero’s Works of Peace, and The Hero’s Retreat from the World and Fulfillment. Particularly captivating is The Hero’s Companion, a soaring love scene marked by an effusive solo violin line—Strauss’ portrait of his wife, Pauline. The violin’s mercurial shifts between playfulness, passion, and tenderness capture Pauline’s spirit in an unforgettable musical portrait.

Listening Notes for Ein Heldenleben

The music unfolds in six continuous sections, akin to symphonic movements. The Hero is introduced through vigorous, expansive themes in E-flat major, presented by the cellos and horns. A brief silence signals the arrival of his enemies—petty critics—depicted through biting woodwind figures and ominous tubas. Their sharp, angular motifs contrast starkly with the Hero’s noble lines, but he soon triumphs, banishing them to the shadows.

The focus then shifts to the Hero’s companion, his wife, represented by a solo violin. Strauss’s depiction is affectionate yet unflinching, reflecting the complex character of his own wife, Pauline. The violin weaves through shifting tempos and keys, by turns tender and fiery, playful and sharp-tongued. The portrait culminates in an ardent love scene, dissolving into tranquillity.

Peace is short-lived, however, as the critics return with renewed malice. The distant call of offstage trumpets signals impending battle, and as the snare drum enters, the conflict erupts. Strauss unleashes a dazzling orchestral melee, where themes clash in a whirlwind of sound. Ultimately, the Hero emerges victorious, the triumph resounding in a blazing return of E-flat major.

A lyrical new theme, introduced by trumpet and violins, leads into a reflective passage where Strauss weaves quotations from his own works—more than 30 snippets from earlier tone poems and operas, including Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, Guntram and Don Quixote. This musical tapestry celebrates a lifetime of artistic endeavour, the Hero’s “works of peace.”

As the journey nears its end, doubt and struggle resurface. Only after one last moment of tension does the Hero achieve true serenity. The music gently fades, as if retreating from the world, leaving behind an overwhelming sense of resolution and fulfilment.

Our February 2025 concert

Alessandro Marcello (1673-1747) was a son of a prominent Venetian family, and was a philosopher, poet, and a mathematician as well as a composer. Alongside a legal and political career, as a young man he was a Venetian diplomat in the Levant and the Peloponnese. His Oboe Concerto is a piece which emerges from the culture of early 18th century Venice, and the heady atmosphere of artistic experimentation and collaboration which emerged from those years. Although several of Marcello’s vocal works have survived, his reputation is primarily based on instrumental music; especially the Oboe Concerto in D minor, which appeared in an anthology in Amsterdam in 1717 and was later arranged by J.S. Bach.

Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969) studied violin, piano, and composition at the Warsaw Conservatory and later in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and Carl Flesch. An accomplished violinist, she performed across Europe, won the 1935 Wieniawski Competition, and was concertmaster of the Polish Radio Orchestra. After a 1954 car accident ended her performing career, she focused on composing and teaching in Lódź and Warsaw. A prolific composer, Bacewicz wrote numerous concertos, symphonies, string quartets, and chamber works, blending neoclassical clarity with later avant-garde experimentation, as well as writing fiction. During the war, the young Grażyna Bacewicz was living in Warsaw, where she both continued to compose and hosted underground concerts in private homes, among friends, performing Polish music banned by the occupying forces. These enabled artists and the audience to hear new works, instilling in them a conviction that despite the horror around them, Polish culture was still alive - Bacewicz and her family only left Warsaw after the failure of the Warsaw Uprising. The Concerto for String Orchestra (1948) remains her most frequently performed and most popular work. Throughout the Concerto, there is a palpable sense of optimism and renewed confidence, reflecting Bacewicz’s mastery of her technique and musical language as she and Poland emerged from the hardships of the Second World War.

Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen for 23 strings was written during the final months of the Second World War – it is a work that seems to collapse simplicity and complexity onto each other. The title implies music that transmutes and transmogrifies incessantly, winding upwards towards the light, and the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic writing undergoes constant metamorphoses as its lines overlay one another into a river of sound.  At the height of the war, Strauss sought consolation in Goethe and his meditations on transformation found in the poems The Metamorphosis of Plants and The Metamorphosis of Animals. The fragmentary theme Strauss had first sketched under the title Trauer um München (Mourning for Munich) resurfaced as an overarching theme of Metamorphosen – it becomes a mourning for all that was lost, and a hope that there will be new growth from its remains.

Daisy Syme-Taylor

Our first fundraising round.

On 25 September 2024, the Fidelio Orchestra ran their first fundraising gala at the Fidelio Cafe. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters we have managed to raise over £50,000 in one single night.

The guests were treated to a five-course tasting menu accompanied by wines provided by our partner Corney & Barrow, with special guest Jancis Robinson introducing the wine before each course.

As part of the auctioned prizes, a 1908 cello by Ettore Soffritti was offered for a valued orchestral member to use it exclusively for the 2025 season.

Several musicians from the Fidelio Orchestra took part to the evening, with music from Franz Schubert to Caroline Shaw. The night ended with Champagne in the cocktail lounge and a guitars+violin jam session.

Great review on the Guardian.

Our concerto programme with Angela Hewitt featuring Bach and Brahms’ D minor concertos has been praised in the Guardian by Fiona Maddocks. Here is the link to the review.