On Tuesday 2nd August 2016 from 1900 to 2000 Thijs Bonger continues with his voyage of discovery about Johann Nepomuk Hummel. The previous episode of
the programme series about Hummel finished with Beethovens ‘cover’ of the Russian tophit ‘Schöne Minka’. A pregnant theme, which stays in your head for a long time. Beethoven earned a nice little income from that. Hummel didn’t want to get left behind and worked on the same song. He made a trio of it, for flute, cello and piano. Lots more composers have benefitted from the success of ‘Schöne Minka. Contemporary Carl Maria von Weber and Hummel’s student Friedrich Silcher both wrote piano variations around this immensely popular song. And we finish the programme with a historic recording. Tenor Richard Tauber sung in 1939 Silchers most famous song, ‘Die Lorelei’, on a text by Heine, in unmatchably simple style.
