The Hollywood Songbook is a collection of art songs that Eisler composed in exile in Los Angeles in 1942/43. Classic-romantic, impressionistic, expressionistic and free tonal sounds combine with echoes of hits or blues.

"And the world begins to sing,

you just hit the magic word«

If one encounters the songs of Franz Schubert, one can believe in this famous line by Joseph von Eichendorff.

Schubert's talent falls into an epoch of geniuses who break out into the boundless, the mysterious. "Night and dreams" mark the longing of romanticism, "the common

a high meaning, to give the ordinary a mysterious aspect, to give the known the dignity of the unknown, to give the finite an infinite appearance,” says Novalis. While Romanticism came to an end as an epoch, the Romantic lives on and has an effect to this day - as an attitude in poetry, music, philosophy and in everyday life.

The program "Night and Dreams", with songs by Haydn, Brahms and above all Franz Schubert, is a journey into mysterious worlds, the dark as well as the hopeful, the good as well as the bad dreams, longing and rest.

Although chamber music with voice and guitar became increasingly popular in the 19th century, Schubert did not create any original compositions for this instrumentation. Nevertheless, he must have loved the guitar very much, since he himself played the versatile concert and harmony instrument, and many of his compositions seem to have been inspired by its sound. Such was their popularity with the (often musicians themselves) public that the publisher and composer Anton Diabelli arranged and published a number of songs for guitar, sometimes even before the original edition with piano accompaniment. The purchase price and handiness of the guitar made it the ideal companion, especially on occasions when a piano or grand piano were not available. She is able to restore an intimacy to Schubert's songs that can be lost on large concert stages.

»May the music make you forget all your worries for a while«, says Henry Purcell's famous aria »Music For a While«, which gave the concert program its title. The last of three parts of the concert is dedicated to the English master of the Baroque. The finely drawn compositions from the "Orpheus Britannicus" collection reflect stirring feelings and sensitive soul impressions.

The program begins with works from the Renaissance: With texts and melodies full of melancholy, desperation, accusation, but also anticipation and devotion, John Dowland's music brings England's Elizabethan age, her royal court and her companions to life. The second part consists of settings of folk songs by the English composer Benjamin Britten. Old songs about love, seafaring, war and country life appear in Britten's modern tonal language of the 20th century.