IN THE SALON OF MADAME BRILLON
CONCERT AND CONVERSATION WITH REBECCA CYPESS AND THE RARITAN PLAYERS, INTRODUCED BY JULIA DOE
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The Raritan Players, led by Rebecca Cypess, invite listeners into the musical world of Anne-Louise Brillon de Jouy (1744-1824), a French composer and keyboardist whose reputation extended throughout Europe and across the Atlantic. Her salon was one of the most fashionable and glittering in Paris. Benjamin Franklin was a regular guest and one of Brillon's most intimate friends throughout his years in diplomatic service, and her salon was a destination for leading professional musicians including Luigi Boccherini, Johann Schobert, and Charles Burney. In the centuries since her death, Madame Brillon—like so many women—has been all but erased from musical history. Using her manuscripts at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, as well as works dedicated to her by some of Europe's leading composers, this program explores Brillon's tastes and the music that she created and inspired. For this concert and discussion, Rebecca Cypess draws on her book-in-progress about Women and Musical Salons in the Enlightenment.
