The Fontain of Venus
The Fontain of Venus
Libertine tales by J. de la Fontaine, court airs and ballet music of the Great Century
Jean de la Fontaine invites us among high company people and ladies, and if he enjoys here and there the charms of Venus, his muse, it is in the purpose to convince us one thousand and one times – with no purpose – « that a charmin night is worth a thousand happy days »…
An evening between pastoral fantaisies, serious and light court airs, punctuates by the licentious tales of the great taleteller Jean de la Fontaine.
Our libertine takes after the ancient Middle Age’s taletellers this taste for flavoring with mockingly healthness his alcove’s stories and to tell them with such a light glee that he has a gift for making the most audacious wantonness seem an almost innocent amusement ! His tales are hymns to voluptuousness, but also models of discretion and decency. La Fontaine is a poet of intimacy : the more one gets to know him, the more one admires him, but from the very first tete-a-tete, one loves him.
Smile, wink, but also sympathy and emotion have gathered this evening : Music and Poetry lead the ball of seduction and love game by entrechats and traceries which make them the most beautiful couple of the evening.
Workforce
Ensemble La Fenice 4 instrumentalists/singers : violin/soprano, viola da gamba/tenor, recorder/barytone/narrator, harpsichord/bass
