Musical Voyages at Home and Abroad

This program is tied to the publication in October of a book by first violinist Ed Dusinberre, Distant Melodies: Music In Search Of Home.  Ed will be on hand after the concert to sign copies of the book.  You can read Ed’s essay accompanying the program here.

All works on the program feature composers thinking about home.  Britten composed his first quartet in California in the summer of 1941. During that time an article by E.M. Forster about Aldeburgh and the poetry of George Crabbe prompted him to decide to return to England and make his home there.  In August 1939 Bartok began his sixth quartet in idyllic Alpine scenery in Switzerland but hurried home to Budapest following the outbreak of World War 11. He finished the piece in November and shortly afterwards decided to leave Hungary for good. In exile in America he heard the first performance of his sixth quartet given in New York in January 1941.  Dvorak’s opus 106, by contrast celebrates a homecoming. In May 1895 Dvorak returned to Bohemia from New York.  He composed opus 106 later that year.