One of the most extraordinary events that members of the Dallas Goethe Center have enjoyed recently was the lecture by Maestro Claus Peter Flor and the recital by Laura Anne Ayres on Saturday, March 1, 2008.   The event was co-sponsored by The Wagner Society of Dallas, and graciously hosted by Dr. and Mrs. Lancourt at their lovely home.

It is rare that those of us who are not musical experts have a chance to learn of the inner emotional and intellectual life of a great composer, in this case, Mahler.   His reasons for choosing the sad cycle of songs known as the Kindertotenlieder, written by Friedrich Rückert, and setting them to music are best understood in the context of the enormously vibrant and questioning intellectual life of the artistic world at the end of the 19th century. The musical devices Mahler used to express his deep feelings and to reflect the impulses he received from friends, opponents, and family are a story rarely told and of gripping interest.   Maestro Flor spoke with great feeling and erudition, challenging us all to think when we hear music, and to accept the unusual.

Laura Anne Ayres, who was accompanied skillfully by Jason Smith of the SMU music school, sang some of the most difficult songs in the whole German repertoire with verve, brilliance, and precision.   It is no mean feat, and as she told some of us later, it was her first public performance of this challenging and fascinating cycle of songs. Her entire recital was in German, flawless and delicate.

The Wagner Society arranged the venue; the Goethe Center provided the refreshments, which were as always of great interest.   The reception afterward was enjoyed by all.

We are very fortunate indeed to be able to enjoy, in a most intimate and gracious setting, a program of great intellectual quality and challenge. Our thanks to our hosts and to our co-sponsors.

Just one week prior to William Kinderman’s presentation on March 9, Maestro Claus Peter Flor in narrating the background for Laura Anne Ayres’ recital of Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder told us that music should actually need no explanation; it should go straight to the soul. Now Kinderman fascinatingly made the case for dissectingWagner’s compositional devices to open his music to a deeper understanding.

Music, like any art, never takes place in a vacuum, because artists don’t live in isolation. Wagner, for one, was politically active and took a keen interest in the philosophical explanations of the world, especially as brought to him by Schopenhauer.   Professor Kinderman performed on the piano numerous examples of Wagner’s compositions, and with them illustrated the various emotions, character traits, or spiritual states of mind that Wagner intended to portray. Furthermore, Kinderman explained for many of the compositional elements their origin, either as Wagner had used them in earlier works, or even borrowed them from other composers, including his own fatherin- law, Franz Liszt.

Professor Kinderman kept the audience in suspense with his engaging style of presentation.   At the end of his presentation, an animated discussion took place, spilling over into the reception, beautifully arranged by our social committee.

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Updated 13JUN08 0639 CDT