LOVE LETTERS

Created by Christian-Pierre La Marca, this project is designed to be in symbiosis with the Schumann couple’s sublime love letters. The intention is to evoke the beauty of the musical dialogue imbued in these love letters bringing together mainly the cello works of Robert Schumann and Clara.

Each of the ‘Romances’ composed by Clara or Robert is imbued with infinite tenderness, as if the couple were conversing in music. They are interspersed with works by their close friends, mentioned and described in their long correspondence : the ‘1810 generation’.

In addition to the epistolary world of the period, the idea is to place the love letters at the heart of our times. What is a love letter today? In the age of algorithms and dating apps, two female composers (P. Kopatchinskaya, Michelle Ross) and two male composers (Jean-Frédéric Neuburger and Fabien Waksman) explore this question. All describe love according to today’s codes: swipe, immediacy, instantaneity…

Friends and close associates for almost 25 years, Christian-Pierre La Marca and Jean-Frédéric Neuburger have been sharing music since they were very young. It was Emile Naoumoff, in 1999, who brought them together for summer masterclasses in tribute to Nadia Boulanger at the Château de Gargenville. When they entered the Paris Conservatoire, it was clear that their paths would converge. They began working together and spent most of their studies together, winning a First Prize in Chamber Music with Honours. Since then, they have been working on a number of personal projects, and have come together for this new project with an unbroken sense of happiness and friendship, and a desire for a common language.