William Christie & Les Arts Florissants

Divines idylles

Where does the famous baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants get its name from? Look no further: it is simply the title of a piece by the French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier, which you’ll get to hear during this concert. Written during the reign of Louis XIV, aka The Sun King, this opera sounds just as charming as its name and was intended to be «a musical romance». By contrast, the second half of the concert will recount a much more tragic love story: that of the mythological poet Orpheus who undertook a journey to hell in order to save his fiancee from the shackles of death…..