Master piece of western music tells love story at Casa da Música

Five vocal soloists, narrator, chorus and large orchestra are all it takes to tell the unfortunate love story of King Valdemar of Denmark, at Casa da Música, on 24 March, starting at 6 pm.

Arnold Schönberg composed "Gurre-Lieder", a large cantata on poems by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen. The title means "songs of Gurre", referring to Gurre Castle in medieval Denmark, where a love-tragedy unveiled revolving around the Danish national legend of the love of the Danish king Valdemar Atterdag for his mistress Tove, and her subsequent murder by Valdemar's jealous Queen Helvig.

The cantata debuted in Vienna in 1913, and enjoyed a resounding success. Viewed as one of the great master pieces of Western music, this cantata will feature at Casa da Música next Saturday, at 6 pm, at Sala Suggia, directed by Swiss conductor Stefan Blunier, Gurre-Lieder, accompanied by an international cast of top-level soloists, including the young Portuguese baritone André Baleiro, the latest winner of the prestigious Robert Schumann International Competition, in Zwickau.

The other soloists are Magdalena Anna Hofmann (Tove/soprano), Christina Daletska (Waldtaube/mezzo-soprano), Robert Dean Smith (Waldemar/tenor) and Jeff Martin (Klaus-Narr/tenor), and Salome Kammer is the narrator.

See here for more information.