PrintAnna Patalong soprano at Wigmore Hall
30 April, 7.30pm
Wigmore Hall
36 Wigmore Street
London W1U 2BP
Tickets: £8 £10 £13 £15
Box office: 020 7935 2141
Book online
Performers
Anna Patalong (soprano)
Elizabeth Rossiter (piano)
Yuka Ishizuka (violin)
Tadashi Imai (piano)
Programme
Grieg Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor Op. 45
Debussy Proses lyriques
Bloch Nigun from Baal Shem
Tchaikovsky Mélodie in E flat Op. 42 No. 3 from Souvenir d'un lieu cher
Saint-Saëns Caprice d'après l'Étude en forme de valse
Poulenc Huit chansons polonaise and La dame de Monte Carlo
Huit chansons polonaise melodies date, in the most part from the heroic, romantic and tragic time of the Polish Insurrection of 1831. After the short spring of the Napoleonic wars, during which many Poles had given their lives, Russia, Germany and Austria divided Poland between themselves. The young soldiers gave the signal for the insurrection on the 29th November 1831. These melodies and poems were sung to promote comradeship and to affirm joy in the heroism of death. This formed a new époque in Polish literature entitled ‘The romantic poetry of the 1831 Insurrection’. The melodic lines and poetry for many of these songs are anonymous, but each of these songs contained much information about the history and different accounts of the insurrection. Poulenc set these melodic lines to his own music in 1934.
Although Anna Patalong was born in England, many of her family roots originate in Poland. After the displacement of World War II, her grandparents settled in Coventry and were heavily involved in the formation of its strong Polish community. Her relatives fought actively in WWII, with her great uncle (who also settled in England) receiving a medal for bravery for his involvement in the 8th Army at the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944. Anna returns Poland regularly, where many of her relatives still live and continues to take Polish lessons in London.