"The Pleasures of Love and Libation: French Airs by Julie Pinel and Other Parisian Women"

La Donna Musicale’s upcoming concert explores the secular contributions of Parisian women composers to the French Baroque and Rococo genres of airs sérieux and airs à boire (serious and drinking songs). These song forms celebrate passionate longing and dissolute intoxication. Julie Pinel (fl. 1737) is the featured composer, and included will be several selections from her 1737 publication Nouveau recueil d’airs. Pieces composed by unknown Parisian women and by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre are included as well. This concert recreates the luxuriant environment of an intimate Parisian salon, replete with the sounds of voices, with flute and violin accompaniment, supported by the captivating tones of the harpsichord and viola da gamba. To add a touch of the sacred, the program will be completed with the passionate Psalm VI, Domine ne in furore, from the Seven Psalms of David by Antonia Bembo.

Performers include Lydia Knutson, soprano; Aaron Sheehan, tenor; Na’ama Lion, flute; Laura Gulley, violin; Ruth McKay, harpsichord; and Laury Gutiérrez, viola da gamba, director of La Donna Musicale, and 2008–2009 Radcliffe Institute fellow.

This concert is free and open to the public.