The French Connection

Linden Baroque Orchestra (Linden Baroque Orchestral Society)

Ashley Solomon will be directing in a programme exploring some of the French influences on German and British music of the period and includes:

Francoeur - Simphonie du Festin Royal No. 2
Rameau - Suite from Dardanus
Telemann - Concerto alla francese for 2 flutes, bassoon and strings TWV 53:C1
Handel Concerto grosso opus 6, no. 5

Drinks available, no interval.

François Francoeur (1698 - 1787) was a Parisian violinist and composer who played at the age of 15 in the Académie Royale de Musique and after travels in Europe returned to play an important part in musical life as a member of the Concert Spiritual and the 24 Violons du Roi. With François Rebel, he shared directorship on the Paris Opéra. Louis XV honoured him as his Music Master. His music is very attractive, if conservative, compared with the emerging classical world of Haydn and Mozart and provides an interesting parallel experience.
Jean-Philippe Rameau, his contemporary, was much more adventurous. He was an important musical theoretician but when he reached the age of 50, began his opera compositions upon which his reputation largely rests today (along with his harpsichord works). At the time he was marmite - revered for his daring imaginative writing or vilified for destroying Lully's carefully curated musical order.
French musical styles were part of the wider European sensibility, particularly amongst the aristocracy and bourgeoisie, who, of course, were the prime paymasters. And so we find French dance forms and the French 'Ouverture' used throughout the music of Europe. And so we play music by 1.5 German and 0.5 English composers: a French inspired concerto for 2 flutes, bassoon and strings by the ever imaginative Telemann and the adopted Englishman, Handel, in one of his fine Concerti Grossi, Op.6 no.5.