Maurizio Pellegrini, narrator
Nicole Brancale, piano
Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849)
Barcarolle, Op. 60
Friedrich de la Motte-Fouqué (1777–1843)
Undine
Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
Ondine from Gaspard de la nuit
Robert Schumann (1810–1856) / Publius Ovidius Naso
Fantasiestücke, Op. 12
Leander to Hero (XVIII) - Hero to Leander (XIX) from Heroides
Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
Valse de l'opéra Faust de Gounod, S. 407
Stories of lovers separated by the sea, such as Hero and Leander, whose imaginary letters, immortalized by Ovid in the Heroides, served as a direct inspiration for Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 12.
The concert presents the celebrated piano composition in an original form of melodrama, carefully reconstructed by Pellegrini and Brancale on the basis of the titles of the individual pieces and the corresponding opening lines of the poet’s verses.
The program is completed by other works devoted to the sea and impossible loves, including the beautiful Ondine, which Maurice Ravel drew from the novella by La Motte-Fouqué, with which, in 2025, we pay tribute to the 150th anniversary of the French composer’s birth.