Les Kapsber'girls

For their 7th program, The Kapsber'girls have decided to tackle an emblematic aspect of French music, which was all the rage between the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the following century: the air de cour.

A secular repertoire, texts of refined poetry or, on the contrary, scenes from everyday life treated with humor and derision, music whose expressiveness and rhetorical qualities are perfectly suited to the voice... This is a genre that could not be more suited to the merry quartet!

What's more, we're well aware of the musicians' penchant for folk-inspired music (their previous triptych of concerts was entirely devoted to this genre, from the French Brunette to the Italian villanelle and the Iberian Tonos Humanos). So it's no coincidence that they've decided to explore this pre-Baroque repertoire, which originated in popular tunes such as vaudeville (“voix de ville”).

Originally accompanied by the lute, then enjoying its golden age in the courts of France, and later joined by the viola da gamba, whose timbral qualities match those of the human voice, court airs offer the quartet a new playground in which, true to their artistic line, they will be rehabilitating works that have until now fallen into oblivion, while revisiting some of the repertory's greatest hits with their own unique energy.

Running time: 1h15

Cast
Alice Duport-Percier, Soprano
Axelle Verner, Mezzo-soprano
Garance Boizot, Viola da gamba
Albane Imbs, plucked strings and direction

Repertoire tracks for vocal music :

Bertrand de Bacilly (1621-1690)
Avant qu'il soit peu la belle
Belle Iris votre humeur sévère
Is there a more excellent dish
Flowers born under Sylvie's footsteps
I burn day and night
My dear flock
When jealous suspicions

Henri du Bailly (158?-1637)
Yo soy la locura

Gabriel Bataille (1574 - 1630)
Sous la fraicheur d'un vert bocage
Sortez soupirs

Antoine Boesset (1587 - 1643)
N'espérez plus mes yeux
Ils s'en vont ces rois de ma vie

Pierre Guédron (1570 - 1620)
Although a cruel martial
What do they say in the village?
Quand j'étois petite garce

Etienne Moulinié (1599-1676)
Paisible et ténébreuse nuit
Tout se peint de verdure
Can we find a doctor?

Charles Tessier (1550/65-ap.1610)
Or que la nuit d'un bandeau
Or que la nuit et le silence

Repertoire suggestions for instrumental music :

Jean de Sainte Colombe (1640 - 1700) ; Nicolas Vallet (ca. 1583 - ca. 1642) ; Robert II Ballard (ca. 1572/5 - ap. 1650) ; De Machy (...-ca. 1692) ; Nicolas Hotman (1610/14- 1663)