Events

Tastes Re-united: Music for the Ballet and the Opera. PACIFIC BAROQUE FESTIVAL 2012 “MUSIC FOR THE SUN KING”

South Vancouver Island

Fri. February 10th, 2012 8:00pm - 9:15pm

Discover the musical brilliance of Versailles and beyond. Beginning in the 18th century French musicians increasingly went to Italy to study, and Italian virtuosi were heard more frequently in Paris. Over time Italian style and forms (concerto, opera) superseded French forms in the popular taste. This did not happen without a great deal of debate, as seen in the music for the Ballet and the Opera. The two camps, the so-called “Lullistes” and “Rameauneurs”, fought a pamphlet war over the issue for the rest of the decade. Then later in his life, the court composer Rameau was criticized for being too conventional and not adapting enough to the newly in-vogue Italian opera buffa style.

The French court at the time of the Sun King, Louis XIV, was an age of artistic splendour, with lavish spectacles and musical entertainments, and richly instrumented music for the church and Parisian concert life. To further his political ends, Louis invested in the arts, determined to make them a metaphor of political stability. He attracted to his court some of Europe’s most enlightened composers who in many ways revolutionized music.

Pacific Baroque Festival 2012 presents music written for the 17th and 18th century French courts, and will show how French music at the Court at Versailles influenced two great German composers, Telemann and Bach.

This concert is the first of five Festival events.