BEETHOVEN'S LETTERS

Thursday, August 5

Church of the Holy spirit, 9:30 p.m.

 

ARS-INDUSTRIA ENSEMBLE (Montenegro)

Aleksandar Radulović, actor

Milana Bjelobaba, first violin

Marija Đuranović, second violin

Uroš Lapčević, viola

Dmitrij Prokofjev, cello

Vanja Vukčević, author of the project:

 

PROGRAM

 

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Letters and String Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 (Razumovsky)

 

Letter to Joseph Wilhelm von Schaden

 

Allegro, first movement of the Razumovsky Quartet

 

Letter to a friend Amenda

 

Molto adagio, second movement of the Razumovsky Quartet

 

Heiligenstadt testament

 

Allegretto, third movement of the Razumovsky Quartet

 

Letter to Immortal Beloved

 

Finale: Presto, fourth movement of the Razumovsky Quartet

 

A note / Immanuel Kant's quote

 

Partner of the concert: German Embassy

 

In 2020, on the occasion of the 250^th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, the project Beethoven’s Letters was created out of the brainchild of Vanja Vukčević, Project Manager of the ARS-INDUSTRIA NGO from Podgorica. The musical part of the program consists of the Razumovsky String Quartet, Op. 59, No. 2, dedicated to the Russian ambassador in Vienna – Count Razumovsky, a great admirer of art and patron. The movements of the Quartet alternate with the interpretation of four letters and a note of Beethoven’s (at the end of the program), thus presenting the intimate world of the artist, one filled with the deepest fears and troubles, yet also with feelings of love. In a letter to his acquaintance Joseph Wilhelm von Schaden, the composer talks about the interruption of his first trip to Vienna and his return to Bonn due to his mother’s illness, which she died from soon afterwards. The following letter is to a friend, Amenda, about Beethoven’s first hearing problems, but also about their friendship. The third letter is the famous Heiligenstadt testament which the composer intended for his brothers Carl and Johann. This text reflects his despair over his increasing deafness, even his contemplation of suicide. Beethoven kept the document hidden among his private papers for the rest of his life, and it was only discovered and published after his death in the same year – 1827. Another important document that was unknown until his death is the Letter to Immortal Beloved – a testimony full of love for a person whose identity has remained a mystery to this day.

The ARS-INDUSTRIA Ensemble was founded in 2018 as part of the ARS-INDUSTRIA non-governmental organization from Podgorica, whose primary mission is their own creation and production of innovative and unusual forms and realizations of creativity in the field of art and education. The ensemble consists of professional artists of various profiles from numerous artistic disciplines (music, theater, dance, visual arts, etc.), who, through interdisciplinarity, aim to provide top-rate, inventive art to the widest possible audience. ARS-INDUSTRIA reconstructed the hitherto unknown and unpublished composition for voice and piano Mirišem Vinograde [I am smelling the vineyards] from 1980, by composer Borislav Tamindžić and poet Sreten Perović; they created the first immersive interdisciplinary project in Montenegro, titled Water Music, under which, for the already existing musical masterpiece by George Friedrich Handel, a screenplay was created, based on historical data and events from the life of the composer and British King George I. In 2021, they are implementing the interdisciplinary program The Fairytale World of Art, dedicated to children from the Youth Home in Bijela.