Close-up: the Twenties

Musicians of the Concertgebouworkest ‘in the spirit of the Twenties’

Close-up concert - image: Milagro Elstak

In the Close-up Series, members of the Concertgebouworkest and soprano Laetitia Gerards are bringing the exciting 1920s back to life with works by Weill, Schulhoff, Eisler and Hindemith.

The Roaring Twenties... It was then that it seemed, albeit briefly, that a new era of prosperity and peace had arrived. 

Concert programme

  • Kurt Weill

    Vijf delen uit de 'Dreigroschenoper'

  • Kurt Weill

    Frauentanz

  • Paul Hindemith

    Kleine Kammermusik

  • Erwin Schulhoff

    Bassnachtigal

  • Erwin Schulhoff

    Zebrák

  • Erwin Schulhoff

    Dráty

  • Erwin Schulhoff

    Ukolébavka

  • Hanns Eisler

    Duo voor viool en cello

  • Hanns Eisler

    Scherzo

  • Hanns Eisler

    Palmström

  • Hanns Eisler

    Divertimento voor blaaskwintet

Performers

About this concert

For many years now, Concertgebouworkest musicians have been performing their own programmes in the Recital Hall. The intimate concerts in the Close-up chamber music series are organised by the Friends of the Concertgebouw and the Concertgebouworkest. The concerts performed here are given only once and can be heard nowhere else!

On this close-up concert, the period following the First World War known as the Roaring Twenties comes to life again. It was then that it seemed, albeit briefly, that a new era of prosperity and peace had arrived. The composers featured on this programme were idealists who dedicated themselves to the cultural elevation of ‘the common man’.

Kurt Weill and Schoenberg’s pupil Hanns Eisler blended high art, jazz and cabaret. Erwin Schulhoff translated his communist ideas into a monumental, innovative style. Paul Hindemith wrote a great deal of music for amateur musicians. By 1933, however, all these composers had been branded enemies of the state by the Nazis; Schulhoff, who unlike Weill, Eisler and Hindemith failed to escape, was murdered in a concentration camp. 

Dates and tickets

About this concert

For many years now, Concertgebouworkest musicians have been performing their own programmes in the Recital Hall. The intimate concerts in the Close-up chamber music series are organised by the Friends of the Concertgebouw and the Concertgebouworkest. The concerts performed here are given only once and can be heard nowhere else!

On this close-up concert, the period following the First World War known as the Roaring Twenties comes to life again. It was then that it seemed, albeit briefly, that a new era of prosperity and peace had arrived. The composers featured on this programme were idealists who dedicated themselves to the cultural elevation of ‘the common man’.

Kurt Weill and Schoenberg’s pupil Hanns Eisler blended high art, jazz and cabaret. Erwin Schulhoff translated his communist ideas into a monumental, innovative style. Paul Hindemith wrote a great deal of music for amateur musicians. By 1933, however, all these composers had been branded enemies of the state by the Nazis; Schulhoff, who unlike Weill, Eisler and Hindemith failed to escape, was murdered in a concentration camp.