Christmas with a crown jewel
Our traditional Christmas Matinee will take place on 25 December. Chief conductor designate Klaus Mäkelä will lead one of our crown jewels, Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss. In 1898, the composer dedicated this work to the orchestra and its chief conductor at the time Willem Mengelberg.
Order your tickets for the Christmas Matinee now
Richard Strauss and the Concertgebouw Orchestra
Richard Strauss' Ein Heldenleben is inextricably connected to our orchestra. Strauss was very impressed after he conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra in the premiere of his Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration) in 1897. He wrote to his wife: ‘The orchestra is truly splendid, full of youthful freshness and inspiration, and superbly prepared, so that it was a genuine pleasure to conduct.’ In 1898 he returned for Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spake Zarathustra), which, as he wrote in a letter to his father, was ‘the greatest triumph in my career’. Out of gratitude, he dedicated his next symphonic poem, Ein Heldenleben, to the Concertgebouw Orchestra and Mengelberg.
The piece became a favourite with both the orchestra and audiences. Willem Mengelberg conducted it no less than 119 times, and the conductors who succeeded him have also kept it in the repertoire. Klaus Mäkelä will continue the tradition on 25 December.
Solo for Vesko Eschkenazy
Our concertmaster Vesko Eschkenazy has a special part to play during this Christmas Matinee concert. To celebrate the fact that on 1 January he will have been with us for 25 years, he’ll play the gorgeous – and notoriously difficult – solo violin part in Ein Heldenleben. This solo is a depiction of the hero’s life companion. Strauss wrote short phrases to indicate her many changing moods in the score, from ‘Heuchlerich schmachtend’ and ‘etwas sentimental’ to ‘immer schneller und rasender’ then back to ‘zart und liebevoll’, giving the violinist a huge range of emotions to express.
Vesko Eschkenazy calls it a challenging piece. ‘It starts very lyrically and grows into nearly a scream, with every possible dynamic difference in between the two. It’s not enough just to play the notes. Also, from a technical point of view, it’s not written in the most logical way for a violinist to play, or the easiest way either. So I gave myself plenty of time to work it up. Now I’m looking forward to working with Klaus Mäkelä again. And it’s always a fantastic experience to play such a great solo with my ‘own’ trusty orchestra.’
Radio and television broadcasts
The Christmas Matinee will be broadcast live on 25 December. The radio broadcast will start at 2:00 p.m. AVROTROS on NPO Klassiek, with the television broadcast beginning at 3:00 p.m. on NPO 2.
More about Ein Heldenleben and Vesko Eschkenazy
- Watch the acclaimed video recording of Ein Heldenleben from 2013, conducted by Mariss Jansons
- Read (in Dutch) on Preludium.nl how Ein Heldenleden became one of the Concertgebouw Orchestra’s crown jewels
- Read the full interview on Preludium.nl (in Dutch) with our concertmaster Vesko Eschkenazy. He’s celebrating his 25 years with the Concertgebouw Orchestra with the great solo violin part in Ein Heldenleben.