The Secret of the Muse

The Catacoustic Consort delves into an intriguing era in musical history with music of the French Baroque for the rare pardessus de viole, a hybrid that blends violin and viola da gamba. While the viola da gamba first appeared around 1480 in Italy, the pardessus did not appear until the early 1700s in France, when it became a staple of Versailles heyday. Unless you were palling around with Marie Antoinette many of these works will be new to you and will showcase the unique sonority of the pardessus. Performers include Annalisa Pappano (also artistic director) and Joanna Blendulf, pardessus de viole; Daniel Zuluaga, theorbo; and Youngmi Kim, soprano.