GOYA I – Yo lo vi

Helmut Oehring, who grew up as the hearing child of deaf parents, has explored deaf and mute issues in many works. In Goya I he directs a twin focus on the great Spanish artist together with Beethoven, both of whom suffered deafness in the 1790s and became increasingly isolated within their respective societies. Both were initially attracted to the revolutionary French messengers of a “free” world but felt betrayed by the person of Napoleon Bonaparte, captured most effectively in Goya’s cycle of etchings +Desastres de la Guerra_ and Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony. Both acted as witnesses for their age, as summed up in Goya’s subheading Yo lo vi — “I saw it”. Oehring’s orchestral score quotes music from a number of Beethoven’s works, including Wellington’s Victory, Piano Concertos Nos. 3 and 5, and the String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132.