Les Délices (“The Delights”) is a Cleveland-based early music ensemble that fosters, educates and expands the audience for chamber music on period instruments through its members’ dedication to underperformed—and largely unknown—repertoires. They accomplish this laudable task through national concert tours, radio broadcasts and recordings. Les Délices will be making their second appearance in Milwaukee under the auspices of Early Music Now this month in a concert titled “Myths & Allegories.”
Les Délices explores the dramatic potential and emotional resonance of long-forgotten music. Founded by baroque oboist-recorder player Debra Nagy 11 years ago, the ensemble has established a reputation for presenting uniquely themed concerts that are splendidly expressive and feature composers that predate those most familiar to the typical classical music lover—often by centuries. The group’s debut album was named one of the “Top 10 Early Music Discoveries of 2009” (NPR’s syndicated “Harmonia” weekly radio program), and its live performances have been called “a beguiling experience” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) and “first class” (Early Music America Magazine).
“Les Délices was on our series once before, in 2015, and the audience absolutely loved the performance,” explains Early Music Now executive and artistic director Charles Grosz. “When I plan a season, I like to balance groups from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods, and also offer a blend of vocal and instrumental music. Les Délices fit perfectly into our current season. Their leader, Debra Nagy, also performed here in this season’s opening concert with Tenet.” The ensemble (in addition to Nagy) consists of Clara Rottsolk, soprano; Julie Andrijeski, violin; Steuart Pincombe, viola da gamba; and Mark Edwards, harpsichord.
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Beyond their single concert date, Grosz says the ensemble “will be in Milwaukee for several days as they perform outreach concerts as part of Early Music Now’s educational program. Les Délices’ appearances include with the Milwaukee Public Schools, Prairie School in Racine and a performance at the Milwaukee Public Library’s East Branch. All concerts are free to attend, and Early Music Now will supply each child in our audiences with a free recorder, coupled with basic instructions on how to play it from Nagy. These recorders may well be the first instruments these children own and will hopefully awaken a lifelong interest and curiosity in music and the arts.”
A Musical ‘Odyssey’
Homer’s Odyssey endures as one of the best-loved adventure tales of all time. The great epic follows its hero, Ulysses, on a 10-year journey as he returns home to Ithaca in the wake of the Trojan War. Along the way, his crew and he encounter lethargic lotus eaters and the monstrous cyclops, Polyphemus. Ulysses must also resist the not-so-friendly feminine wiles of the witch, Circe, the deadly sirens and the nymph, Calypso, who keeps his men and him captive for seven years. All the while, the goddess Athena (Minerva) serves as Ulysses’ guide and protector, helping him to forestall disaster and overcome his many obstacles. The Odyssey’s central theme—and the source of its universal appeal—is the enduring strength of love, hope and fidelity.
Scholars believe that Homer’s epic was originally a song that was sung to a rapt audience before any of it was ever written down. In that vein, Les Délices’ “Myths & Allegories” concert delves into early music—in this case, the French Baroque—based upon the Odyssey and its many epic and touching scenes and moments.
Included on the program are, for example, several excerpts from Jean-Féry Rebel’s opera, Ulysse (1703). The libretto for Ulysse loosely adapts Homer’s text, creating a tangled love triangle between Circe, Ulysses and Penelope. Les Délices will perform two airs from Act I: “Souffrirai-je,” in which Penelope pleads with her long-absent husband to return, and the lilting “Beaux lieux,” where she explains that beautiful gardens—and otherwise pleasing diversions—will fail to distract her from her longing. By the opera’s end, however (and with some assistance from Athena), Penelope is happily reunited with Ulysses in Ithaca. Les Délices will perform two airs reflecting this action from Act V: “C’est vous, mon cher Ulysse” and “Que c’est un plaisir extreme.”
Other works on the fascinating, variegated program are by François Couperin (1688-1733), François Chauvon (1690-1740), Thomas-Louis Bourgeois (1676-1750) and Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729). As mentioned, these aren’t exactly household names, even to classical music lovers, but isn’t that the point? Though centuries old, the music by these men and women is new to the average concertgoer—as new as each succeeding adventure once was to Ulysses.
Saturday, Feb. 8, at 5 p.m. at UW-Milwaukee’s Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts, 2419 E. Kenwood Blvd. For tickets, visit earlymusicnow.org.
