​KirstiConsort

Les femmes d'esprit pays homage to two women who seized the opportunity to develop their talents in an unruly world. The programme consists of music by the French composers Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729) and Marguerite Monnot (1903-1961). They were both virtuosic keyboard players, the first as a harpsichord player and the latter on the modern piano. But their great success lay within their compositions. Their music truly deserves our attention in the present day.

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Jacquet de la Guerre managed to get her music printed with royal privilege, granted by the Sun King, Louis XiV, in a time where for many women it was impossible to put their name to a composition. She was one of the femmes d'esprit, inspired and learned women who played an important role in the developping the ideas of the Enlightenment, but who mostly stayed in the shadows of their male colleagues. We want to put her in the spotlight, where she belongs.

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Two centuries later, Monnot switched from classical music to popular music, a move that was very unusual for a woman at the time. As a result she acquired world fame through the songs she wrote for and together with Edith Piaf. They became the first female songwriter duo in France. By combining baroque music with chansons we want to reach a broader audience and show that modern music can also sound attractive on historical instruments. This also invites the listener to discover if this French music has more in common than just the French language. Do these two composers share the same urge to create, a joie de vrivre, and a typical French spirit?