We start the new year with French baroque music. For the January meeting, I will conduct a new edition and arrangement of some ballet music by Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) In the process of creating the edition, I began to refresh my memory about the composer and his time in the service of Louis XIV, and that has led to the short talk that I plan to present as the opening program for the evening.
The court of Louis XIV was the most splendid in Europe and was perhaps the most opulent in European history. All of the nobility was required to live at court, and lives interwove in complex ways. Lully was the favored court composer and was on close terms with the king. He was not a native Frenchman but his style came to embody what French music was meant to be. The manuscript from which I created the edition was done by a member of the Philidor family who was an oboist in Lully’s orchestra.
The talk (which is for everyone) will touch on the lineage of the royal family, the life of Lully, and the contributions of the Philidors – with some of the intrigues in their relationships.
Following the talk, Sally Mitchell will depart with the Beginning Ensemble, and I will conduct the ouverture and numerous dance movements and airs from Lully’s Ballet des Muses for five-part recorder ensemble with optional low basses and viols.
SRS Board meets at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, January 30 at the Seibert house.
A Beginning Recorder Class is being offered by the SRS. The class will again be taught by Laura Faber. See the Recorder Classes page for more details and a registration form.
Concerts. Recorder Orchestra. Master Classes. Coached consort playing. Improv, ornamentation & more. Jam sessions. Performance practice. Teacher methodology. World music. Chapter sessions and round table discussions. It will be interesting and diverse. Read more about it at www.americanrecorder.org
Peter Seibert, conducting
Ballet music of Lully
For recorders SATB, GB, CB
Peter Seibert
Music, Politics & Debauchery
in the Court of Louis XIV
