Christophe Rousset conducts Montéclair, Corelli, Scarlatti, Handel — With Sandrine Piau

In the intimate, candlelit atmosphere of Bayreuth's St. George's Church, Sandrine Piau, Christophe Rousset, and Les Talents Lyriques present a concert of secular cantatas created in 18th-century Rome. The program includes works by Corelli, Scarlatti, Handel, and the French composer Montéclair.

Sandrine Piau brings to life the heroines of Roman history, whose misadventures are depicted by the composers, with a force of emotion rarely equaled. First of all, Michel Pignolet de Montéclair's Lucretia comes to life; a woman raped by Sextus and whose only recourse to cope with this tragedy is to take her own life, her timeless myth takes on bitter accents. Later, it's Agrippina's turn to tell her story, that of a mother put to death by her own son Nero, through Handel's music, which would also inspire his opera Agrippina. Between these declamations, the orchestra takes the floor to perform Corelli's Concerto Grosso No. 6 and Alessandro Scarlatti's Sonata a quattro.