Diana Tomsche, Soprano
Armin Kolarczyk, Baritone
Jeannette La-Deur, Piano

Lieder for Soprano and Baritone after Poems by Goethe, Falke, Kropp, Schüler, Stona ...

The songs recorded for this CD span a whole female composer‘s life: Still a student at Munz‘sches Konservatorium in Karlsruhe, Germany, Margarete Schweikert wrote the songs Der Page on a poem of Frida Schanz and Im Schilf on verses of A. W. Stern. They were premiered in a concert given by the students on june 7, 1905. Three of the Vier Lieder nach Gedichten von Martha Kropp were performed for the first time on january 28 in 1955 in a concert arranged by the GEDOK Karlsruhe in presence of the composer.

Her teachers were the violinist Carl Wendling and the composer Joseph Haas, an alum of Max Reger; both lecturers at the local Königliche Konservatorium. During these years, Margarete Schweikert expanded her activities as violinist and as composer: She performed not only in Karlsruhe, but in other Southern German cities like Würzburg, Nürnberg and Stuttgart. In the programs organized by herself, she often combined chamber music for violin and her songs. Again and again, renowned singers campaigned for her songs: In Karlsruhe e. g. the baritone Otto Wessbecher, who, from 1911 on, included Gomorra frequently in his programmes. In Karlsruhe, Stuttgart and Munich, the soprano Hedy Iracema-Brügelmann, the bass-baritone Hermann Conzelmann and the composer on the concert grand realized a composition evening with songs of Margarete Schweikert in february and march 1920.