The Secret Garden Cafe Concerts: La Follia

A celebration of the Baroque’s fiercely brilliant women composers opens our new series of coffee concerts, with soprano Sofia Kirwan-Baez.

In their time these women were celebrated. They wrote bold music performed before kings and in prestigious theatres and shaped the musical life of Europe. Yet in the centuries that followed, their names faded from the story. This concert brings them back into the limelight. At the glittering court of Louis XIV, the wildly talented Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665–1729) was acclaimed by the public and her peers. In Florence, Francesca Caccini (1587–1640s) was at the heart of early opera scene in the city and wrote the first known opera by a woman in 1625. In England, Elizabeth Turner (who died in 1756) and Elisabetta de Gambarini (1731–1765) challenged expectations, performing in public and publishing their own music at a time when this was considered inappropriate. In Venice, the remarkable musicianship of the young women of the Ospedale della Pietà shaped the music of Antonio Vivaldi. Today we celebrate their voices—bold, fierce and brilliant.

Programme:

DE LA GUERRE Trio Sonata No.1 in G minor
LEONARDA ‘Ave suavis dilectio’
CACCINI ‘Chi è costei’
TURNER Lesson No.1 from Six Lessons for the Harpsichord
PORPORA Sinfonia da Camera Op.2 No.3
DI GAMBARINI ‘Un Giorno piu chiaro’
PURCELL Evening Hymn
VIVALDI ‘La Follia’ Variations

Inspired by the coffee-house culture that Johann Sebastian Bach enjoyed in 18th-century Leipzig, The Secret Garden Cafe Concerts are a new series of relaxed, intimate performances. Each concert is curated by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s principal players, uncovering rarely heard musical curiosities and forgotten gems that seldom appear on the modern concert stage. For these events, the Assembly Hall at our home in Acland Burghley School will be transformed into a welcoming cafe setting. Your ticket includes a generous slice of cake and bottomless tea, coffee or soft drinks.