Saturday 17th February 2024
7.30 Tonbridge Parish Church
Strauss – Die Fledermaus Overture
Smetana – Suite from the Bartered Bride
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No 4
Come to the east of Europe with Tonbridge Philharmonic Society’s orchestra, on February 17th. First to Vienna where Johann Strauss II was deeply familiar with its great waltz tradition, and used it to great effect in Die Fledermaus, a comedy tale of deceit and disguise. But even though the title is translated as The Bat, there is not a bat to be seen.
Further east into Bohemia – now the western half of the Czech Republic – and we find Smetana’s Bartered Bride, the tale of a young woman who is promised in marriage to the son of a rich man, rather than the young man she loves. There’s money involved, and more disguise and deception unfold before the lovers reach their ‘happy ever after’ ending, thanks to a bear.
And then towards the (mostly) frozen north, to Russia, and Tchaikovsky’s beloved 4th Symphony, full of fate and peril. The composer takes us from a strident brass opening, through to a melancholy oboe solo, before leaving us with the Fate motif once more to call you back to yourself, as Tchaikovsky himself put it.
All three works were part of a blossoming of the Romantic movement, with Smetana and Tchaikovsky building on the work of Strauss and others to create a body of work that is exhilarating and enjoyable, with a definite flavour of their different homelands. Come and travel with us in the musical world of the late nineteenth century which will make for a wonderful evening.
Tickets can be bought here
Download the concert poster here
