Dowlands british blues

Weltschmerz may not be a genuinely British invention, but hardly anyone gave expression to this attitude in such an inimitably elegant way as the British in the 17th century. And at the latest when the writer Robert Burton drew parallels between genius and the tendency to melancholy in his »Anatomy of Melancholy« in 1621, young aristocrats had their heads propped up in their hands portrayed in droves.

This »gift for deep feeling« was probably most beautifully expressed musically in the lute songs of the composer John Dowland. The delicate lyrics, which are much about longing and unrequited love, find their ideal form in solo singing to the delicate accompaniment of lute and violin.

After Marie-Claude Chappuis unfortunately had to cancel her tailor-made programme of Swiss folk songs at short notice due to illness, it is a special pleasure for the Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci that lutenist Luca Pianca and violinist Pierfrancesco Pelà are now joined by the world-renowned tenor Michael Schade - as a luxurious stand-in.

B  shuttle bus available