Grand Siècle in a triple bill of French Baroque operas including two premiere stagings of works by female composers

Later this month there is a chance to catch stagings of two rarely performed short operas by female composers of the French Baroque. The ensemble Grand Siècle is performing a triple bill of Rameau's Pygmalion, Julie Pinel's Iphis et Daphné, and Elizabeth Jaquet de la Guerre’s Raccommodement Comique de Pierrot et Nicole, at The Unicorn Theatre in Abingdon, Oxfordshire on 18 and 19 March 2022.

Julie Pinel (fl 1710-1737) was a composer and harpsichord player born into a family of French court musicians. Very little is known about her, but her published collection of songs from 1737 is dedicated to Charles de Rohan, Prince de Soubise, who was a patron of her family. Harpsichordist and composer Elizabeth Jaquet de la Guerre (1665-1729) is perhaps a better known name, but like Pinel's opera, Jaquet de la Guerre's is a first staging. Like Pinel, she was born into a family of musicians and instrument makers, and she became one of the few well-known female composers of her time. Her piece  Raccommodement Comique de Pierrot et Nicole, was published in 1715 as part of Cantates françoises, a set of four cantatas, and the third such volume that she had produced. The first two on sacred subjects, and this last on secular.

The young historical performance ensemble Grand Siècle was formed in 2018, and had its origins when some of the performers met during their studies of historical performance at the Royal College of Music. Madeline Claire de Berrié joined in 2018 after a discovery of a shared love of the French Airs de Cour and Margueritte Wasserman joined in 2020, after accompanying Grand Siècle on tour to the South of France.

Full details from the ensemble's website.