Mysterious muses

In the late 16th century, musical life at the court of Ferrara was one of the richest in Europe. A notable feature were the ‘Concerto delle donne’, where women performed music composed especially for them. By, for example, Luzzasco Luzzaschi, teacher of Frescobaldi. Duke Alfonso organised these concerts for his wife, who was a great lover of the arts, and only a select few were granted the privilege of attending. Because he did not give permission for the publication of the music, the story of these women remains underrepresented to this day.

In France too, composers such as Antoine Boësset and Louis Nicolas Clérambault wrote works for women who remain anonymous in the annals of music history. In this program, Sébastien Daucé unlocks the treasure chest in which these jewels have been hidden for centuries to present these magnificent works to the public. 

7 p.m. / Lecture Early Music by Jan Van den Bossche
Find the women
One of the first composers in Western music history was a woman: Hildegard of Bingen, who lived in the 12th century. Despite the resurgence of interest in her music in recent times, women play a secondary role in the canon of music history. They are either subjects (Eurydice, Carmen), muses (Beethoven’s ‘immortal beloved’) or virtuoso singers like the divas in Handel’s operas. But female composers are hard to find. And if women did compose, they often did so anonymously or under the pseudonym of a man. This lecture uncovers the hidden stories of women in music history, from the ‘Concerto delle donne’ in Ferrara to the compositions of Fanny Mendelssohn.