At the heart of this Soundings program is a work by Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff, a fully notated depiction of a woman’s sexual climax titled Sonata Erotica.

Certainly not intended for the concert hall at the time of its composition in 1919, (Schuhoff writes, “For Men Only” on the title page) Sonata Erotica would have been a voyeuristic diversion in the nightclub or cabaret, and an example of the musical revolution of art “as the commonality of man” that the composer had embraced.

Almost a century later, knowing what we do of Schulhoff’s death in a Nazi concentration camp, it is difficult to experience this work without feeling the magnitude of individual loss—millions upon millions of unrealized loves and intimacies that are our common, human birthright.

Major works in this program are Schulhoff’s Sextet, Steve Reich’s Different Trains and Richard Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder.

Featured performers are Parker String Quartet, Liza Sadovy, Roger Tapping, Natasha Brofsky, and Melanie Henley Heyn.

Soundings is supported by Charles and Jessie Price and Kay and Elliot Cattarulla, Aston Martin of Dallas, the Friends of Soundings, City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, and TACA. Additional support provided by Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger. Media Partner WRR 101.1 FM.