The Era of Marie Antoinette, rediscovered

Letter from the Artistic Director Dear Friends, Over the course of the coming seasons, Opera Lafayette will present three festivals which explore various facets of 18th century French music. Each festival focuses on the era of one of three women: Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI and Queen of France; Madame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV; and Madame de Maintenon, the second wife of Louis XIV. We chose to present these festivals in reverse order chronologically, starting with the Era of Marie Antoinette, for several reasons. First, Opera Lafayette’s most recent explorations have been of late 18th century opéra comique and of opera in the era of the French Revolution. Second, as an American ensemble performing historical music from Europe, we have been interested in the resonances of 18th century French music in the Americas. Finally, the current historical moment has put colonialism under the microscope, and there is much to learn from doing so through music.

Thus, adding “rediscovered” to the end of our festival title “The Era of Marie Antoinette” suggests our intent to reexamine an era which is both fraught with easy stereotypes and ingrained historical judgments, and which is usually seen only from the point of view of Versailles or Paris. Nonetheless, with French music, we start there, the center of French culture and empire, before moving outward. With just three programs, our aims are of necessity modest and specific, but take us the distance from Versailles to Saint-Domingue to New Orleans and to the southwestern United States.

The Musical Salon of Marie Antoinette gives us an intimate look at Marie Antoinette the musician and salon host - what she played, what she listened to, and who she met while doing so. The French harpist Sandrine Chatron has both researched and assembled the works in this program. In an accompanying essay, the musicologist Julia Doe gives us a broader look into the musical life of Marie Antoinette and her world. Among the revelations this program brings are that two of the composers who crossed Marie Antoinette’s path had strong ties to the New World.

Concert Spirituel aux Caraïbes came about because of our investigations into the French opéras comique that were performed in the 18th century colonial theaters in Saint-Domingue, and particularly into the career of Minette, the mixed-race singer and actress who was the star of the stage in Port au Prince during the 1780’s, before the French and Haitian revolutions. Kaiama Glover and Laurent Dubois, who have written eloquently about this period and do again in an essay here, introduced Opera 6