Ilona Schmiel Interview

Ilona Schmiel has managed the Beethovenfest in Bonn since 2004. Over the years, the festival's reputation has grown, and that is due in part to a Beethovenfest trademark: the motto that shapes and distinguishes each of the annual events. The 2011 motto "Zukunftsmusik" ("Music of the future") was almost overdue, said Schmiel, in an interview with DW. She also highlighted the numerous similarities between Beethoven and Liszt: Beethoven, she said, was a rebel, a cosmopolitan and a visionary who was always ahead of his times - just like Franz Liszt.

Deutsche Welle: Franz Liszt plays a dominant role at this year's Beethovenfest. We're celebrating his 200th birthday this year, and Liszt also had a very special relationship to Beethoven. What did the two composers have in common?

Ilona Schmiel: Franz Liszt always admired Beethoven. Not only were they both outstanding pianists and great composers, they were both artists who forged ahead with major innovations in music as well as in issues like how they related to audiences. They were soul mates in a number of ways.

When we began to think about a motto for 2011, it was clear that we would incorporate Franz Liszt. Not only because it is thanks to him and his admiration for Beethoven that a Beethoven statue was erected on Münster Square in Bonn in 1845 - in fact, he helped finance it, got a campaign in its favor going and finally, he was the one who said, "That must be celebrated." So, the first Beethovenfest ran for three days in August 1845.



A composer honoring a deceased colleague like that, founding a festival and building a concert hall: Was that novel?

We've researched that, and I must say that really was a first. At that time it was by no means common practice to celebrate a late colleague's birthday - in this case, what would have been Beethoven's 75th birthday - with a festival. It was a real innovation that contributed to the trend we see today of celebrating anniversaries, birthdays and days of death.

Do you believe Franz Liszt is a wrongly neglected composer, whose altruistic nature often left him in the shadow of others like Richard Wagner? Do we need to make amends, and is that what Beethovenfest is trying to do?

That is exactly why we chose the motto "Music for the Future" for Beethovenfest 2011. Together, Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt founded the "New German School." And just as Franz Liszt developed the symphonic poem, Richard Wagner helped develop the Gesamtkunstwerk, that is, the total work of art.

It's true that Franz Liszt - in Richard Wagner's shadow - hasn't been honored nearly enough. He was not only a composer and virtuoso, he was also a very active patron of the arts. That makes him a very modern artist indeed.

His talents as a composer and pianist made Liszt a very prosperous man. But he felt compelled to give back to society, so he gave charity concerts for orphanages and throughout his life taught a number of students free of charge.

He did a lot for Beethoven, too. How ironic that Liszt had a Beethoven concert hall erected in just 11 days, a wonderful hall made of wood, when we have been deliberating for years how we can build a new concert hall for Beethoven. That is a hot topic here in Bonn.

What are some of the Liszt highlights in the program?

We're staging a special Liszt night that will focus on Liszt's roots in his native country of Hungary. It's about folklore and folk music; some works, for instance, will be played on the cimbalom that night. I am especially pleased that we were able to sign on the Roma and Sinti Philharmonic under Riccardo Sahiti. Integrating people from the fringes of society was important to both Liszt and Beethoven.

Liszt's Piano Sonata in B Minor will be played twice. It is surely one of the most difficult piano works ever written, almost a "monster," without a break between the movements, but it is absolutely brilliant. I am very pleased that Liszt expert Arcadi Volodos will play this sonata, as will Marc-Andre Hamelin, who is sure to come up with an interpretation all his own.

You said Franz Liszt and Beethoven were soul mates. How is that mirrored in this year's festival program?

The spiritual affinity will become immediately clear on October 7 when we revive the concert staged on August 12, 1845. I am very pleased that we have been able to bring over Concerto Köln under Ivor Bolton for that event. We're presenting a lengthy program on that night: the Coriolanus Overture, the Fifth Symphony and the Fifth Piano Concerto with Alexander Melnikov as soloist, to name just a few - an exciting concert. You have to imagine that Franz Liszt himself played the piano, and that he and Louis Spohr both directed on that night in 1845.

Interview: Rick Fulker / db
Editor: Greg Wiser