With his "Four Serious Songs," which he completed on the morning of May 7, 1896, his 63rd birthday, Brahms musically bid farewell to life (and to Clara Schumann, who was dying). Thomas Hampson, the great baritone and artistic director of the Heidelberger Frühling Liedakademie, puts these personal-intimate, profound reflections on the last things at the center of his recital, based on biblical texts meaningfully compiled by the composer. Robert Schumann's "Twelve Poems op. 35" on verses by the Swabian poet and physician Justinus Kerner form a kind of counterpart to this. This series of songs was written at the end of 1840 – during Schumann's happy first period after his marriage to Clara.

Concert without intermission

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