Work: Wie sollt ich heiter bleiben

A deep-dive into the world of 14th-century Persian poet, Hafez, and his influence on song across the centuries. 

Centered around the later, lesser-known composers of art song, tonight’s programme started with a first half of melancholy Hugo Wolf Lieder. Both Schubert and Schumann wrote settings of Goethe’s unhappy Harfenspieler, but evidently Wolf was unsatisfied, as, on principle, he avoided setting texts which he thought had been successfully treated before.