STAEHLE: Mädchenliebe - Songs [CD de audio] Eleonore Contucci, Costantino Mastroprimiano and Staehle

Hugo Staehle was a composer gifted with very precocious talent, whose artistic parable was interrupted by his death in 1848 at the age of 22. A student of the famous Louis Spohr, Staehle moved to Dresden at a young age, where he had the opportunity to meet many of the most famous musicians and composers of the time, including the great violinist Ferdinand David, Ferdinand Hiller, and Robert and Clara Schumann. Among Staehle's few works that have survived to this day, it is worth mentioning a powerful play, a quartet for strings and piano and several Lieder for voice and piano, some of which are presented on this charming album. These works were conceived for the then emerging bourgeoisie, which considered music a fundamentally important component of its cultural horizon. In particular, Staehle's vocal works are based on the model of Robert Schumann's Lieder, as can be easily seen in their atmospheres, which range from the charms of love and melancholy (Sehnsucht) to the impulses of heroism and the touches tragic. This splendid album features great protagonists such as the soprano Eleonora Contucci and Costantino Mastroprimiano - for the occasion at the keyboard of a magnificent Broadwood from 1826 - and was recorded in the wonderful setting of Palazzo Contucci. The booklet contains extensive cover notes on the composer and the works performed, biographies of the performers, sung texts, and a detailed description of the instrument used. Costantino Mastroprimiano, fortepiano