Saturday 29th June 2024 @ 19:30
Rainham School for Girls, Derwent Way, Gillingham ME8 0BX
- Mendelssohn- The Fair Melusine Overture
- Ethyl Smyth Serenade in D
- Beethoven - Symphony No. 3 in E-flat "Eroica"
The last concert of the season opens with Mendelssohn's The Fair Melusine Overture, loosely illustrative of aspects of the legend of the water-nymph Melusine. The overture was written in 1834 as a gift for the composer's sister, Fanny.
To complete the first half of the concert, we return to our women composers theme of the spring concert with Ethyl Smyth's brilliant Serenade in D. Smyth is one of the composers featured in Leah Broad's Quartet and is an amazing character, which is reflected in her music.
Finally, we end our 2023/2024 season with Beethoven's groundbreaking Symphony No. 3, also known as the "Eroica" symphony. Originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, whom he believed embodied the democratic and anti- monarchical ideals of the French Revolution, Beethoven withdrew the dedication in anger on discovering Bonaparte had declared himself Emperor and retitled the symphony "Sinfonia Eroica", which translates as "Heroic Symphony".
