Le passage de la mer Rouge

September 24, 19:00 | Museum of Applied Arts and Design

Cantatas and sonatas by Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665–1729)

Iwona Leśniowska-Lubowicz – soprano (Poland)

Royal Baroque Ensemble (Poland)

• Grzegorz Lalek – violin
• Karolina Zych – traverso
• Maciej Łukaszuk – cello
• Henryk Kasperczak – theorbo
• Lilianna Stawarz – harpsichord and direction

Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre (1665–1729) was a prodigy. Even as a teenager, she performed as a harpsichordist in front of King Louis XIV. She had a happy marriage with a man who was an organist, and who looked upon her musical accomplishments with support and appreciation, as did her father and brother in her childhood. She had a long and active career as a harpsichordist and composer, and was acknowledged alongside M.R. de Lalande and Marin Marais as a skillful improviser within different musical genres. Her opera Céphale et Procris was the first opera written by a woman in France. At the beginning of the 18th century, she published three books of cantatas. Her family happiness did not last long, as death took her beloved relatives from her within just a few years: her ten-year-old son, mother, father, husband, and brother. Jacquet de La Guerre was the only woman during the reign of Louis XIV and Louis XV to know glory and appreciation for her work during her lifetime. Her compositions are not only courageous in terms of musicianship, but also technically demanding, leaving no doubt about her own incredible skills she had as a harpsichordist herself.