Classically romantic" is the motto of the 7th symphony concert. The Academic Festival Overture opens the evening as a “laughing” work. As Brahms himself called it, the composition was written in 1880 after he had been awarded an honorary doctorate. The name says it all: in the overture, the master of orchestral music used several student songs in contrapuntal terms. The concerto for oboe and orchestra in C major that follows also contains quotations from a German folk song. Although the concerto is attributed to Joseph Haydn, it is likely to have been written by Ignaz Malzat, a Viennese composer and oboist.
Conductor and soloist at the same time is the Frenchman François Leleux, who is known for his irrepressible energy and passion.
Finally, Brahms's Symphony No. 1 in C minor is heard. After Beethoven had blossomed the genre, Brahms only dared to compose his first symphony at the age of 43, which for him was a "matter of life and death". He chose C minor, which has been the familiar key of fate since Beethoven's "Fifth" at the latest. The introduction introduces the material for the movements that follow, including the rising motive of the violins spiraling upwards to resist an overpowering fate. The closing section of the symphony contains an alphorn melody that Brahms sent Clara Schumann on a postcard in 1868 as a birthday greeting, as well as a march theme that has great parallels to Beethoven's hymn from the 9th symphony.
