Postponed: Manfred Project
This concert is postponed! Manfred: Scandal and Sensation. During this concert, the audience is taken along in the poetry about Manfred by Lord Byron. In the poem, Manfred challenges both God and the devil and has been an inspiration for many other artists, including Schumann. Let yourself be carried away in this poetic story and empathize with the story of Manfred.
Please note: postponed concert
The concert around Manfred is postponed until further notice. Apologies for the inconvenience.
What is Manfred about?
Lord Byron’s Manfred, published in 1817, was both a scandal and an overnight sensation. In verses of sublime poetry inspired by Goethe’s Faust, Byron tells the story of a doomed magician who defiantly challenges the authority of both God and the devil. With Manfred, he created the model for the romantic antihero, the so-called ‘Byronic hero’: a demonic, brooding, and wounded character who causes physical and emotional suffering to all around him, while suffering even more himself. Curious how that sounds? Buy your ticket!
What are the characteristics of Manfred?
Manfred's magical powers come from a terrible secret, from some guilty act in his past, some acts too terrible to even mention, and from the irreparable torture his soul suffers because of them. No mortal or immortal being can overcome Manfred, for no one is as guilty - and has suffered as much - as he.
How was Manfred performed regularly?
During the 19th century, Manfred was performed in Britain and the United States of America as a one-man show. Using elaborate gestures and melodious declamations, a single actor read Byron's verses, using his voice to create and animate all the different characters. The varied musical accompaniment sometimes interrupted the declamation and sometimes coincided with it, creating melodramatic moments of great intensity by uniting and contrasting the music and text.
How is Manfred performed?
Inspired by stories of this lost performance tradition, the musicians of Postscript and historical actor Jedidiah Wentz have created a new, intimate chamber version of Manfred. The incidental music consists of pieces by Robert and Clara Schumann, interpolated into a revised and shortened version of Byron's original English text.
With various pieces of music by Robert and Clara Schumann, including Manfred: Dramatic Poem in Three Sections.
What can you expect from Manfred?
Our aim was to highlight the most emotional scenes in the poem: the audience is invited to empathize with Manfred, to experience his torment at the death of his beloved Astarte, his contemptuous defiance of the authority of God and the devil, and his conviction that his sorrow, his sin and his guilt are his essence, because they give him his greatest power.
We let the listener decide whether Manfred has descended into eternal hellfire, or whether he has finally found the oblivion he is looking for. Curious how that sounds? Buy your ticket now.
Who performs this Manfred?
Jed Wentz - reciter
Artem Belogurov - fortepiano
Cecilia Bernardini - violin
Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde - cello
