Johannes Brahms – Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra in A minor, Op. 102 | Richard Strauss – Metamorphoses | Richard Wagner – The Magic of Good Friday
“A person who created something like that can’t go on living. He’s finished. He’s bound to die soon.”
A visitor at the world premiere of *Parsifal*
Program
Johannes Brahms – Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra in A minor, Op. 102
Richard Strauss – Metamorphoses. Study for 23 Solo Strings, AV 142
Richard Wagner – Good Friday Magicfrom the opera *Parsifal*, WWV 111
Join three great German composers on a journey through their final major works—one is conciliatory, one despondent, one sublime: In his last major orchestral work, Johannes Brahms attempts to mend the rifts in his (almost) lifelong friendship with the violinist Joseph Joachim. Richard Strauss wrote *Metamorphosen* not only at the end of his life, but also at the end of World War II. Germany lay in ruins, and Strauss was in anguish: “My beautiful Dresden, Weimar, Munich—all gone!” In his final opera, Richard Wagner composed a particularly solemn orchestral piece: the *Good Friday Magic*.