Presented in association with Torch, with support from the Humanities Cultural Programme, the Voltaire Foundation, and The Queen’s College
Several events this year explore the Age of Enlightenment, asking what it signified for composers and poets in song. Nicholas Cronk, Director of the Voltaire Foundation, introduces Voltaire and Rousseau, two key Enlightenment figures. We are delighted to present this from the stunning Upper Library in Queen’s College, one of Oxford’s great libraries, built between 1692 and 1695.
In Rousseau, we find not only philosopher but also both poet and composer, and this is a rare opportunity to hear some of his own songs. Rousseau was a well-known composer in his own day (Beethoven arranged an aria from his opera Le Devin du village) and wrote many songs. These were collected in a volume compiled in 1781, three years after his death, in a collection entitled Les consolations des misères de ma vie.
Voltaire appears in song primarily via a translation into Russian of his poem ‘À Madame la Princesse Ulrique de Prusse’ by Pushkin. We hear four settings of this poem by Cui, Glazunov, Arensky and Rimsky-Korsakov.
Join in:
The talk and music for this event will be pre-recorded, but will be introduced live by our speakers, who will also be available to answer any questions at the end. During the event, please email any questions (songconnections@oxfordlieder.co.uk) or post them on social media (#OLF2020), and we will answer as many as time allows.
This event, along with all events in the Oxford Lieder Festival 2020 will be broadcast online on our website. Click here for further information on how tickets will work this year.