Opinions differ on the song cycle “Frauenliebe und -leben” by Robert Schumann with a text by Adelbert von Chamisso: High song of love or the chauvinistic appropriation of a female position by a composer and a poet? Testimony of a "commitment for the simple, underprivileged woman" (Hans-Udo Kreuels) in a time before the emergence of feminism, or a naive as well as outmoded stereotypical representation of female devotion and subordination?

Together with the musicologist PD Dr. Bobeth and the Germanist Prof. Dr. Jacob, the pianist Irina Buchmann and the singers Dalila Djenić, Kathrin Herrmann, Maria Melts, Alexandra Uchlin-Grewis and Natsumi Witzmann we want to listen and watch closely on December 13, 2021 at 7.30 p.m. at the Frankfurt LAB, as part of a combined concert - and lecture evening around and with Schumann's / von Chamisso's song cycle. In what historical context is "Frauenliebe und -leben" to be located? How can we deal today - in artistic staging, in critical discussion - with the aesthetic image of a woman that has fallen out of time for good reason?

The evening will be based on the live singing and piano performance of Schumann's cycle as well as the premiere of the screening of the film-documented staging of the material by Roland Schwab with students from the singing department of the HfMDK Frankfurt. The work was created in spring 2021 and could not be performed in attendance due to the Covid pandemic. Gundela Bobeth and Joachim Jacob contextualize the material from a music and literary historical perspective.

Guest speakers:
PD Dr. Gundela Bobeth
Prof. Dr. Joachim Jacob, Justus Liebig University Giessen
Live singing: Dalila Djenić, Kathrin Herrmann, Maria Melts, Alexandra Uchlin-Grewis, Natsumi Witzmann
on the piano: Irina Buch
As well as the film premiere of the production "Frauenliebe und -leben" by Roland Schwab

A concert and lecture evening by the singing department of the University of Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt / M. in association with the Hessian Theater Academy