Program
- Jean-Féry Rebel (1666-1747)
Les élémens
Le Chaos – Air pour les violins et les flutes : La Terre Et l’Eau – Chaconne : Le Feu – Ramage : L’Air – Rossignols – Tambourins 1 et 2 : L’Eau – Sicilienne – Rondeau – Caprice - Marin Marais (1656-1728)
Symphonies extraites d’Alcyone - Georg Philippe Telemann (1681-1767)
250th anniversary
Ouverture-Suite, TWV 55 :C3 « Hamburger Ebb un Fluth »
Ouverture – Sarabande : Die schlaffende Thetis – Bourrée : Die erwachende Thetis – Loure : Der verliebte Neptunus – Gavotte : Spielende Najaden – Harlequinade : Die schertzende Tritonus – Der stürmende Aeolus – Menuet : Der angenehme Zephir – Gigue : Ebbe und Fluth – Canarie : Die lustigen Bots Leute
The 4 elements structure the universe and life. Water quenches when fire heats, air gives rise to breath and the earth nourishes. Philosophies, from Plato to Bachelard, the Greek or Ayurvedic systems of medicine, have all developed theories based on the existence of these four elements. Sometimes there is also a “quintessence”: this is ether that fills the cosmos.
When the 4 elements are in harmony, the universe is in balance, man is in good health. But with the squall, the sea rages, the earth trembles, hell opens up, and only divine intervention can restore order to the world.
The baroque musicians were to excel at describing gales, storms or earthquakes, just as they enjoyed depicting anger, madness, jealously, or despair.
With his naturalistic brio, Telemann (whose 250th death anniversary is in 2017) produces a Wassermusik, replete with aquatic and ethereal divinities. In the lyrical tragedies by Marais, and a number of other French composers, the fury of the elements plays an important role in the narrative progression. Rebel organises the 4 elements in an incredible musical chaos, a prelude to Haydn’s rendering of chaos at the beginning of the Die Schöpfung oratorio.
A programme filled with contrasts and virtuosity.
Akadêmia :
19 intrumentalists : 2 traversos, 2 recorders, 2 Oboes, Basson, strings, theorbo, harpsichord
Françoise Lasserre, conductor