MUSICIANS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT
In the wake of Le Grand Siècle and invigorated by the patronage of Louis XIV, music in France at the turn of the eighteenth century was flourishing in an intensely artistic environment.
The Enlightenment movement throughout Europe encouraged the cultivation of the arts and in France music was central to the lives of the aristocracy.
In this fertile arena composers and peformers were able to explore the parameters of perfection on their instruments. Hence, Jacques Hotteterre 'Le Romain' and Michel de la Barre (pictured above second from left with, it's thought, Marin Marais holding his viol) championed the flute traversière, publishing important treatises on the technique and performance of the instrument and writing exquisite music which illustrates the level of accomplishment they achieved.
In the wake of Le Grand Siècle and invigorated by the patronage of Louis XIV, music in France at the turn of the eighteenth century was flourishing in an intensely artistic environment.
The Enlightenment movement throughout Europe encouraged the cultivation of the arts and in France music was central to the lives of the aristocracy.
In this fertile arena composers and peformers were able to explore the parameters of perfection on their instruments. Hence, Jacques Hotteterre 'Le Romain' and Michel de la Barre (pictured above second from left with, it's thought, Marin Marais holding his viol) championed the flute traversière, publishing important treatises on the technique and performance of the instrument and writing exquisite music which illustrates the level of accomplishment they achieved.
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Similarly, Marin Marais did much to encourage the flowering of the viol in France with his five volumes of 'Pièces de viole'. He influenced a further generation of player-composers to write high quality music for the instrument and to maintain its status as the embodiment of French refinement and 'bon goût'.
As in all European countries the harpsichord was the linchpin, its most illustrious exponents being the Couperins, father and son and Jean-Philippe Rameau whose 'Pièces de clavecin en concerts', in which the flute and the viol merely provide colouration to the virtuosic keyboard part, form the centrepiece of our programme. This concert explores the music of these great player-composers and offers a taste of the exquisite 'musique de la chambre' of pre-revolution France. |