Manfred Honeck / Midori

»Pity, pity, too late!« These are believed to have been Beethoven’s last words in 1827 – and this is the inspiration behind the piece we commissioned from Jüri Reinvere. The Estonian composer, poet and essayist continues to make waves, including with his 2020 opera »Minona«, which revolves around Beethoven’s possible daughter – and we are very excited to see what kind of tribute he will now compose. We will follow this with highly romantic music by two of Beethoven’s successors: Mendelssohn was particularly influenced by Beethoven’s »powerful late works«, but then went in his own direction. About his violin concerto, premiered in 1845, he said: »I feel that with every piece I get closer to writing exactly as my heart tells me.« The dedicatee, Ferdinand David, was certain that even »the angels in heaven« would be delighted by it. The programme concludes with the symphonic masterpiece by Bruckner, who regarded Beethoven’s compositions as the pinnacle of musical achievement. His admiration was so deep that in 1888, when the genius’s grave was opened for the purpose of relocating his remains at Vienna’s Central Cemetery, he was overcome with emotion and kissed his skull. Yet he was genuinely afraid of the number nine and once remarked: »I really don’t want to start the Ninth; I simply don’t dare, for Beethoven too brought his life to a close with his Ninth.« Nevertheless, Bruckner continued to tinker with his symphony until the day of his death in 1896. Following its posthumous premiere, a critic commented on its final Adagio: »Its notes sound as if from another world, to which the master has departed.«