Musica Vitae

Divertimento for string orchestra was one of the last compositions Bartók wrote before leaving for the USA in 1939. It was composed for the Basel Chamber Orchestra and its conductor Paul Sacher, with whom Bartók had been associated for several years.

Janácek’s Idyla is a youthful work, written by Janácek in 1878 when he was 24. This was his second orchestral composition, and he conducted the première performance himself. After that performance the score vanished, and it did not turn up again until 1938, ten years after the composer’s death.

Leó Weiner composed his Divertimento No.1 Op. 20, subtitled “After old Hungarian Dances”, in 1934. Weiner (1885 – 1960) attracted attention at the beginning of the 20 century, not only in Hungary but also in Germany and the USA, and his music was played regularly up to his death, when it partly lapsed into oblivion. From 1908 onwards he was the leading music teacher at the Budapest Conservatory.

Musica Vitae, formed in 1980, numbers among its distinctions the Expressen Music Prize, “Spelmannen”, for 1995. It has made a name for itself as one of the foremost chamber orchestras in Sweden.