Palace concert with the Mecklenburg-Schwerin State Orchestra
Program
Robert Alfred Kirchner – Intrata ed Allegro (world premiere)
Georg Alois Schmitt – Sextet for Strings “Waidmanns Heil”
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy – Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 “Italian”
The Mecklenburg State Orchestra invites you to a concert in the atmospheric inner courtyard of Schwerin Castle, filling the walls—which have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since summer 2024—with the sounds of a summery, romantic program. As part of the 2026 Castle Festival, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s cheerful Symphony No. 4, “
,” will be performed: the “Italian”—a work that, like few others, fits perfectly into the romantic atmosphere of this special place.
In 1830, Mendelssohn sought travel advice for Italy from the great Goethe in Weimar and then spent half a year following in his footsteps through “the land where the lemons bloom.” He gathered impressions that would stay with him forever, and from them he crafted his “Italian” Symphony. It comes across like a musical travel journal: mostly lively and spirited, full of light and southern joie de vivre, interspersed only here and there with tender moments of wistfulness and melancholy.
It is precisely in the inner courtyard of Schwerin Castle that Mendelssohn’s symphony can unfold its special effect: the Neo-Renaissance architecture provides an ideal acoustic space for this music. The columns, the finely ornamented facades, and the almost fairy-tale-like silhouette of the palace—all born of a longing for classical harmony and southern elegance—enter into a lively dialogue with Mendelssohn’s soundscape this evening.
The first part of the concert is dedicated to composers who are connected to Schwerin in various ways. The program features music by Georg Alois Schmitt, who shaped Schwerin’s musical life as court Kapellmeister from 1856 to 1892. The program also features a world premiere by Robert Alfred Kirchner, who joined the Schwerin Court Orchestra in 1907 and, for decades—well into World War II—helped shape the orchestra both as section leader of the second violins and as a composer.
