Violinist Ronald Lantz and pianist Laura Kargul return for another Valentine’s Day concert at the Opera House with music of the Romantic period. Their focus will be on great composers who harbored secret loves, or at the least, maintained unconventional romantic liaisons.

Featured works in this Thursday, Feb. 12 concert include the third violin sonata of Brahms, arrangements of several “Songs Without Words" by Mendelssohn, and other works by Schumann, Dvorak and Fauré.

“We couldn’t play a program like this without returning to the passionate relationship between Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann,” Kargul said. “No one can say definitely what transpired because they destroyed so much of the evidence, but it is clear that they tried for their entire lives to keep the truth a secret. Their closest friends, and even Clara’s children, knew that it was not for public knowledge.”

“The topic reveals some fascinating insights,” Lantz said. “For example, the popularly held notion is that Mendelssohn led a relatively conservative and undramatic life, especially for an artist of his stature. He was married with five children, but there is evidence that he also pursued an illicit relationship with a much celebrated fellow musician — and that he even tried to persuade her to run off to America with him. This sheds a whole new light on his music and how best to interpret it.”

“People may be surprised or even shocked by some of the revelations, but for the sake of happy endings we will round out the program with one composer who had an idyllic marriage, of all things,” said Kargul.

Kargul serves as a professor of music at the University of Southern Maine. Lantz last appeared at the Opera House with his quartet, the Portland String Quartet, and has performed previously with Kargul at the Opera House.

Kargul and Lantz’s performance is one of two specially presented Valentine programs; the other is “Broadway in Boothbay” on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m.

The Friends of the Opera House will be serving special Valentine’s inspired desserts.

Tickets purchased in advance of either performance are $15 and $20 on the day of the concert. The opera house box office is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 207-633-5159 for tickets or, buy online at www.boothbayoperahouse.com.

The Opera House at Boothbay Harbor is located at 86 Townsend Avenue in Boothbay Harbor.