by Jarrett Hoffman
IN THIS EDITION:
•Les Délices releases “Gods & Heroes” on digital
•Two pioneering women: French Baroque composer Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (pictured) and Ukrainian writer and activist Lesya Ukrainka — whom you can visit in the Cultural Gardens
•The composers who will be featured in the She Scores concert series this June from the Local 4 Music Fund
ON THE SCHEDULE:
Thursday marks the digital release of Les Délices’ recent live program “Gods & Heroes,” which will be available for 30 days after the premiere. Read our preview, where LD artistic director Debra Nagy discusses the idea of seeing yourself in the characters of mythology. And check out Stephanie Manning’s review of the concert, which she described as an engaging blend of poetry and music. Finally, get tickets here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
Thursday marks the 357th birthday of French Baroque composer, harpsichordist, and vocalist Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, who began her career as a child prodigy, and ended it as one of the most respected musicians of her time in all of France.
Born into a musical family, de La Guerre performed for Louis XIV at the age of five, went on to become a court musician in her teens, and drew notice as a composer beginning with her first published collection: the 1687 Pièces de clavessin, a rare example of harpsichord music in France at that time.
Her first and only opera, Céphale et Procris, is known for its artful combination of French and Italian styles, its impressive musical interludes, and unfortunately a convoluted libretto which may have been its downfall: after the premiere in 1694, it ran for only a handful of performances. Still, it put her in the history books as the first French woman known to have written an opera.
De La Guerre broke new ground in further areas of composition. Her 1695 set of trio sonatas represented an early example of French experimentation in the Italian genre of the sonata. And her 1707 Sonates pour le violon et pour le clavecin were some of the first accompanied harpsichord works. As the icing on the cake — and isn’t that really the best part of eating cake? — the end of her career was devoted to a series of inventive cantatas.
Listen to her opera Céphale et Procris here in a 2008 recording by the Ensemble Musica Fiorita under the direction of Daniela Dolci. And take in her Sonata No.2 in D here in a 2020 concert by violinist Ingrid Matthews and harpsichordist Byron Schenkman.
WOMEN’S HISTORY IN UKRAINE & NE OHIO
Speaking of pioneering women of history — and tying into current events — the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation marked International Women’s Day earlier this month with a Facebook tribute to Lesya Ukrainka (1871-1913), one of the leading figures in Ukrainian literature and a noted activist in the movements of feminism and Ukrainian nationalism.
Among the many monuments in her name — particularly in her home country and in other former Soviet Republics — is one in Cleveland, where her statue is a centerpiece of the Ukrainian Garden. (Right: the unveiling of the statue in 1961, photo courtesy of the Cleveland State Library Special Collections.) Read more about this remarkable figure in an article from UNESCO.
Moving to the present day, the Local 4 Music Fund recently released the names of the composers who will be featured in the 2022 She Scores concert series, launched last year to highlight living female composers, particularly from the region.
Concerts from June 23-25 will include works by Emma Cardon, Geneviève Cecile, Elillian Daugherty, Nicole DiPaolo, Karen Griebling, Margi Griebling-Haigh, Susanna Hancock, Grace Harper, Ellen Harrison, Cara Haxo, HyeKyung Lee, Michelle Li, and Sierra Wojtczack.