Mercury Baroque Presents A French Valentine, 2/14-18

Mercury Baroque presents a selection of Jean-Phillipe Rameau's powerful vocal music on the occasion of Valentine's Day.  Explore the themes of love in Rameau's cantatas, Orphée and Thetis along with arias from the operas Les Indes Galantes and Hyppolite and Aricie.  

When and Where:

February 14 and 17, 2012 at 8:00 PM at the Wortham Center in the Cullen Theater and

February 18, 2012 at 8:00 p.m. at The John Cooper School in The Woodlands

Ticket Prices: $22, $42, and $59 

Rameau was considered one of the finest French composers and music theorists of the baroque era.  His work is characterized by his unique and innovative use of harmonies and the playful suggestion of dance movement.  The pieces in this program are particularly appropriate for Valentine's day because they focus on stories of love and romance both happy and sad.  

The cantata Orphée tells the tragic story of the romance of Orpheus and Eurydice.  Orpheus, the greatest of all musicians had the power to enchant flora, fauna, and humans alike with his magical lyre and voice.  Orpheus fell in love with Eurydice and they decided to marry.  On the day of their wedding Eurydice was bitten by a venomous snake and died.  The grief stricken Orpheus mourned for weeks and finally resolved to journey to Hades to plead for his wife's life.  Living souls are not permitted in the underworld but Orpheus passed every obstacle by singing mournful songs about his widow.  Once he reached the king and queen of Hades, even they became moved by his music and agreed to let Eurydice live on the sole condition that he not look at her until they returned to the land of the living.  Slowly they ascended in an eerie silence until, once almost there, Orpheus forgot himself and looked back at Eurydice and she began to fade away.  There was only time for Orpheus to hear her utter the word, "Farewell," before she returned to Hades. 

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