Apollo’s Fire: Echoes Across the Atlantic
Lineup
About the Event
Grammy-winners Apollo's Fire and Jeannette Sorrell join legendary Trinidadian soprano Jeanine De Bique to explore the connections between Europe and the colonies of the Caribbean in the 18th century.
Across the waters, tales of love, despair and resilience emerge from the palaces of Europe and the plantations of the Caribbean – with surprising resonance for today.
A suite from Handel's masterful Agrippina (1709) leads to a dramatic recitation from a Caribbean funeral oration of the same year, lamenting the murder of an enslaved man by the plantation owner. A thrilling orchestral suite by Rameau leads to his flirtatious aria "Air de la Folie - Aux langueurs d'Apollon" from Platée, which explodes into a joyous Creole wedding celebration.
The virtuoso music of Handel, Purcell, Rameau and Vivaldi meets the soulful voices of Caribbean poets in this celebration of our shared humanity.
Performers
Apollo's Fire Baroque Ensemble
Jeannette Sorrell conductor
Jeanine De Bique soprano
Programme
I. Stormy Seas
George Frideric Handel Selections from Agrippina: Instrumental dances, L’Alma mia fra le tempeste
Jean Philippe Rameau 'C’en est trop… Quand l’acquilon fougueux' from Dardanus
Marin Marais (ed. Sorrell) Suite from Alcyone Chaconne – La Tempête – Marche des Matelots (L’amants malheureux)
II. Resilience
Johann Christoph Pepusch 'O Welcome, Gentle Death' from Venus & Adonis
'A Black of Guadeloupe' - funeral oration for an enslaved man who was "kill'd by his master for taking a loaf of bread as he pass'd thro the kitchen"
Haitian funeral song Lè M’Mouri (music by Joachim Horsley, lyrics by Felix Morisseau-Leroy from the Haitian poem “Testaman")
III. A Woman's Heart
George Frideric Handel 'Ah, Ruggiero crudel… Ombre pallide', from Alcina
Jean-Baptiste Lully 'Passecaille' from Persée
Traditional Caribbean folk song arr. Theron Shaw Call Up Meh Rosebud
André Tanker Morena Osha (traditional Trinidad & Tobago calypso)
IV. The Folly of Love
Antonio Vivaldi arr. Jeannell Sorrell La Folia (“Madness”), after the Trio Sonata RV 63
Jean Philippe Rameau 'Air de La Folie' from Platée