As nature begins to bloom, so too do the music festivals appear. Not only do the many pop festivals attract thousands of enthusiasts, but classical music also makes itself heard. Noteworthy in this regard are the annual early music festivals at home and abroad.
Fortunately, we don't have to go far. There is plenty to experience close to home: no fewer than three early music festivals in Belgium and one in the Netherlands:
- 30 June - 16 July: Muziekfestival Namen;
- 4 - 13 August: MA (Musica Antiqua) Festival Brugge;
- 18 - 27 August: Laus Polyphoniae AMUZ Antwerpen
- 25 August - 3 September: Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht
In this article we focus on the Muziekfestival Namen with Leonardo García Alarcón (who else?) as artistic director. With his Cappella Mediterranea and Choeur de Chambre de Namur he has been achieving international acclaim for years.
The main part of the festival consists of the baroque opera La Jérusalem délivrée (1712) by the French composer Philippe d'Orléans (1674-1723) and librettist Hilaire-Bernard de Requeleyne, baron de Longepierre (1659-1731). I was not familiar with this opera, but that is not surprising. Leonardo García Alarcón has dusted it off, something he has done before.
The story is drawn from Gerusalemme liberata (1581) by Torquato Tasso (1544-1595), an epic poem that was world-famous at the time, about the First Crusade led by Godfrey of Bouillon in 1096. Everyone knew this book, not least because of the many musical compositions it inspired (Combattimento di Tancredo e Clorinda by Monteverdi, Rinaldo by Handel, Armide by Lully and Gluck, but also Armida by Haydn, Tancredi by Rossini, the cantata Rinaldo by Brahms, Torquato Tasso by Donizetti, and the 21st-century opera Armida by Judith Weir).
The main characters are Christian and Islamic knights who fight each other but also fall in love with each other. In La Jérusalem délivrée, these are the Islamic female knights Herminie and Clorinda (heard only as a voice in this opera), both of whom fall in love with the Christian knight Renaud, whose love is directed towards Clorinda, whom he has unknowingly killed on the battlefield. There is also the love-hate relationship between the Islamic sorceress Armide and the crusader Renaud.
Philippe d'Orléans was a high-ranking member of the French court. He would even become regent of the young Louis XV. As a student of Charpentier and Campra, he developed under the guidance of his music master Charles-Hubert Gervais (1671-1744) into an esteemed composer. Gervais was strongly influenced by Italian opera, which makes me curious about the opera by Philippe d'Orléans. Does this opera contain Italian elements such as the three-part aria, or is the story told in the French through-composed style of Lully and Rameau? All reason to go and admire this opera on Friday, June 30 at the Namur Concert Hall.
After this special start, there follows what you might call an eclectic programme with music from various periods and in different styles, although the emphasis remains on baroque music.
Aside from excursions such as a tribute to the renowned jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt by Minor Sing, the musical performance Madame Vitesse by Joëlle Charlier about her idol Clärenore Stinnes, who was the first woman to drive a racing car around the world, we remain mostly in early music territory with La Dafne (1719) by Caldara, Theodora (1749) by Handel, The Magic Flute (1791) by Mozart and Le 66 (1856) by Offenbach, to name a few operas (although Theodora is actually an oratorio and Le 66 is an operetta). There is also music to be heard by Bach, Zelenka, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Ravel.
Special attention is given to several female artists. Ensemble Agamemnon celebrates the paintings of Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1656) with Renaissance and baroque music by, among others, Frescobaldi, Rossi and Mazzocchi.
Julie Roset, Ana Vieira Leite & Camille Allérat bring the programme The ladies of Ferrara, an ode to a group of women in Ferrara (1570) who initially excelled only at court with their exceptional voices, but later would influence princes from other courts to also organize so-called Concerti delle donne. A particularly remarkable phenomenon that deserves more recognition.
All in all, a very varied programme that deserves to be visited, especially if you are interested in special performances such as a newly discovered opera. I wish you much enjoyment.