In music history narratives or concert programs, Chopin and Mendelssohn are rarely put side by side. This is somewhat understandable, since although they were contemporaries, met several times and greatly admired each other (Mendelssohn once called Chopin a "perfect musician"), their musical styles and worldviews were quite different. If they are connected at all, it is primarily through their ties to music history: through Bach and Mozart. The gravitational center of Gábor Csalog's concert will be Chopin's Scherzo in E major, accompanied by Mendelssohn's songs without words: works that at first glance – and according to their function – appear to be mere salon pieces, but are in fact compositions of just as high a caliber as any of Mendelssohn's or Chopin's large-scale works. In the first half of the evening, during a conversation with Gergely Fazekas, the question of where the boundary lies between salon music and high art will certainly be raised, as well as whether a scherzo can be considered a "joke" in the original sense of the word if Chopin is the composer. The language of the discussion is Hungarian.

Further concerts in this series:
23 November 2025 6 PM – Gábor Csalog Sundays – Dialogues with (the) Music | Mahler and Schubert
22 March 2026 6 PM – Gábor Csalog Sundays – Dialogues with (the) Music | Schumann and Brahms
17 May 2026 6 PM – Gábor Csalog Sundays – Dialogues with (the) Music | Kurtág and the Music History