Rameau's 'Anacréon' (1754): Study Afternoon

Friday, November 9, 2012 - 12:00pm
Lecture Theatre, 66 St Giles', Oxford

 

On 9 November, the world-renowned Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, a cast of internationally-acclaimed soloists and some of Oxford’s finest choral singers will be joining forces to give the modern première of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera Anacréon (1754). Reconstructed from manuscripts scattered through Paris’ libraries by Oxford conductor and Director of College Music at St Hilda’s College, Dr Jonathan Williams, this comic one-act opera has now been published in Bärenreiter’s prestigious new edition. To mark the occasion some of the UK’s leading scholars are coming to Oxford to explore this long-neglected work and the historical, literary, musical and dramatic contexts of Anacréon’s libretto and music. All are welcome to attend what promises to be a fascinating day, a celebration of scholarship and music-making of the highest order.

 

12.00pm, Welcome at the Holywell Music Room

12.15pm, Harpsichord Recital

Kah-Ming Ng performs a selection of Rameau’s keyboard music:

‘Prélude’, ‘Allemande 1’, ‘Sarabande’ from the Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin (1706)

‘Les Cyclopes’ from Pièces de Clavessin (1724)

‘Les Sauvages’ from Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin (1726–1727)

 

1pm, Lunch at the Classics Centre (66, St Giles’) 2.00pm-6.00pm, An exploration of Rameau’s Anacréon, its libretto, music, dance and reception (66, St Giles). Booking is required - please contact naomi.setchell@classics.ox.ac.uk. A £10 registration is payable IN ADVANCE.  

 

2.00pm Peter Brown (Trinity College, Oxford): ‘The Classical Background to French Opera’

2.30pm Felix Budelmann (Magdalen College, Oxford): Anacreon and the Anacreontic Tradition’

3.00pm Graham Sadler (Emeritus Professor, University of Hull): 'The Summertime of Love”? Anacréon and the Court voyages to Fontainebleau'

3.30pm Tea                       

4.00pm Roger Savage (Edinburgh): ‘Cahusac, the Poet without Pretence, and the Sentimental Triangle’

4.30pm Jennifer Thorp (New College, Oxford): ‘Theatrical Dance and Anacréon’

5.00pm Roger Scruton (Oxford): ‘Rameau the Musician’

6.00pm Reception

7.30pm Performance (tickets available from Music at Oxford