The two great topics of humanity, love and death, are closely related to each other in a mysterious way. Many important artists have dealt with them in their works. With his opera “Tristan and Isolde” and the closely related “Wesendonck Lieder”, Wagner created a particularly impressive example of this. Liszt, who had a very close relationship with Wagner and also inspired him artistically, gave this topic his own moving expression in the two symphonic poems “Orpheus” and “Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe” (From the cradle to the grave) as well as in the lieder “Ich möchte hingehn” (I would like to pass on), filled with the longing for death, and “O lieb” (O love). The unusual instrumentation of soprano & organ makes this music shine in a different and fascinating new light.
