INTOXICATION – Mojca Vedernjak & Stefka Perifanova

Fanny Hensel (née Mendelssohn) (1805 Hamburg – 1847 Berlin) Pianist, composer, conductor. 1836/37 "Three Songs on Poems by Lord Byron." Fanny Hensel wrote over 450 compositions in various genres.

Clara Schumann (née Wieck) (1819 Leipzig – 1896 Frankfurt/Main) Pianist, composer, editor, pedagogue. In 1841, the album of the Schumann couple appeared, "Liebesfrühling." "Liebst du um Schönheit" (Do You Love for Beauty) is one of Clara's songs. The songs "O weh des Scheidens" (Oh Pain of Parting) and "Am Strande" (On the Beach) were Clara's gifts for Robert's birthday and Christmas respectively.

Pauline Viardot (née Garcia) (1821 Paris – 1910 Paris) Singer, pianist, composer, publisher, voice teacher. She inspired not only Schumann, Chopin, Berlioz, Liszt, and Meyerbeer, but also promoted the careers of Saint-Saëns, Massenet, Fauré, and Gounod. In the Mörike songs composed in 1865, her scenic thinking and great musical joy are clearly audible. Viardot left behind over 100 songs, various choral works, chamber music works, several operas, and operettas.

Dora Pejačević (1885 Budapest – 1923 Munich) Composer, pianist, violinist. Coming from an aristocratic family, she maintained lively intellectual exchanges with, among others, R. M. Rilke and K. Kraus. Very critical of her own class, she worked as a volunteer in a hospital during World War I. Her very personal "Three Songs" op. 53 on texts by Nietzsche are among her final works. Her oeuvre of 58 works spans from chamber music for various ensembles to orchestral works.

Luise Greger (née Sumpf) (1862 Greifswald – 1944 Merxhausen) In the late 1990s, the singer, pianist, song composer, and editor was rediscovered. She composed over 100 songs. Until the 1930s, her music was very popular throughout Europe. In 2017, the complete orchestral version of her fairy-tale opera "Gänseliesel" (premiere 1933, Baden-Baden) was found in Kassel.

Alma Mahler (née Schindler) (1879 Vienna – 1964 New York) In her younger years, composing was her means of self-expression. In semi-public contexts, she performed as a pianist and composer. During the time of the serious marital crisis with Gustav Mahler, he had her "Five Songs" published (1910). The song "In My Father's Garden" can be considered Alma's musical memory of her childhood. Of over 100 songs and various instrumental works, 17 songs are known today.