Bacchus / Vin divin
Intoxicating Baroque music
Anon.–Boismortier–Boyer–Clérambault–Lully–Marais–Trad.
Jussi Lehtipuu, baritone
Anthony Marini, violin and direction
Marianna Henriksson, harpsichord and direction
Encanto House Band
The festival is offering a breathtaking way to close out Saturday evening, combining French Baroque music with domestic wine tasting. Bacchus, the host of the evening, was the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Dionysus, who was the god of the consumption and cultivation of wine, the performing arts, intoxication and ecstasy. In French Baroque cantatas and pastoral operas, the Bacchus character often encouraged the twists and turns of love with the help of wine. Bacchus and Amor were quite an inseparable pair in musical representations; after all, love needs good food and drink to flourish.
The concert features excerpts from these charming celebrations of wine drinking, as well as some French and Finnish folk songs in which the relationship between Bacchus and drunkenness is a bit rougher. It is well known that drinking wine can cause very contrasting atmospheres, from a boisterous festive mood and happiness to melancholy and passing out. In this concert, we use music to work through these feelings. It might even be possible to enjoy a glass of Bacchus’ nectar at the same time!
Animated by this divine juice
all my genius bursts
I feel the flow of this good wine,
Madrigals and cantatas
of the great Quinault, the great Lully,
I erase the memory;
I have all the fire of Corelly
In my drinking songs...
Saillie-Bacchique d’un Poête-Musicien, from the songbook Recueil d’airs sérieux et à boire de differents auteurs (1719)
Duration: 1 h (no intermission)