Malmgren Concert | The Merz Trio

Clara’s Blumentagebuch (Clara’s Flower Diary)
4 P.M.

The Merz Trio performs chamber music by Beethoven, Clara Schumann, and Syracuse University faculty composer Loren Loiacono.

This program traces the steps of Clara Wieck Schumann from 1857–1859 through flowers. It reflects sentiments from her Blumentagebuch—her diary of pressed flowers—in which Clara left dedications to meaningful people and moments in her life. Each flower or plant carries meanings both public, according to the practice of floriography in nineteenth-century Germany, and private, through associated memories and emotions. This precious book accompanied her as she toured throughout Europe and served as a record of friendship, mourning, and memory. Moving among Clara’s floral meditations, we explore floriography in its romantic heyday and delight in the coded and the unspoken. With Clara, we visit Robert, as well as Beethoven and Schubert, and bring in a musical friend of our own, Loren Loiacono (b. 1989).

In a page dedicated to Robert, Clara dried ivy from his gravesite, a symbol of love and faithfulness.

The program begins with a set of their early songs. The first, a love song by Clara, is drawn from a shared song cycle of lieder written together by Robert and Clara. Next is Schubert’s lied, which revels in the poignancy of this hidden language of flowers. In Loiacono’s Sonatensatz, written for Merz in 2022, she employs her own Blumensprache, drawing inspiration from the passionate wildness of Robert Schumann’s trios. The program concludes with a celebration of friendship: Beethoven embodies these ideals in a work dedicated to his great friend, Archduke Rudolph, that is at times noble, playful, and transcendent.

The Malmgren Concert Series of Hendricks Chapel is made possible by a gift from Syracuse University alumna Ester Malmgren in 1991. The series offers the Syracuse community arts performances at no cost.

Many concerts are livestreamed and/or recorded. Visit the Hendricks Chapel YouTube page to view a live or recorded show.

Accessibility

For accessible parking, call Hendricks Chapel at 315.443.2901 or email [email protected].

CART, ASL, and Aira will be offered at this event. CART provides real-time English text of spoken words and is useful for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. ASL interpretation is available for those who know American Sign Language and are deaf or hard of hearing. Aira provides live visual interpretation for people who are blind or have low vision, or others who may benefit from verbal descriptions. Syracuse University makes Aira available to its community and visitors on campus at no cost through the Aira Explorer mobile app.