Queene and Huntresse!

Program and Translations

The inspirational figure in this program is the Roman Goddess Diana. Revered for her athleticism, beauty and skill as a huntress, Diana (or Artemis in the Greek system) is a symbol of strong feminine virginity, and is represented in many forms of art as a playful, scornful seductress; beautiful yet unobtainable. In the tale of Actéon, for example (set often in painting, literature and opera) the young man comes across the naked Diane bathing, and she, humiliated, transforms him into a stag.

The idea of unrequited love (or indeed lust) has always been a staple subjectof Western Art. We have collected various pieces which represent the eternal struggle of the starved lover. We chose French and English repertoire due their similar courtly obsessions with hunting, and masochistic enjoyment of the pains of love. In stark contrast to the highbrow pining of a renaissance lover, it is certain that there was also a courtly interest in the baser manifestations of love and lust.

The music in this program spans almost two hundred years. From the birth of the renaissance in fifteenth century part songs, through to the final sophisticated remnants of the lute song during the reign of Louis XIV, the music in this program focuses on both the familiar and the obscure.