Oh! The Sweet Delights of Love
| Charpentier | Spring from The Four Seasons |
| Blow | Paratum cor meum |
| Purcell | O dive custos (Elegy on the Death of Queen Mary) |
| Dumont | Pavane in D minor |
| Couperin | Magnificat in D minor |
| Purcell | Now that the sun has veiled his light (The Evening Hymn) |
| Monteverdi | Io son pur vezzosetta |
| Monteverdi | Ohimè ch’io cado |
| Charpentier | Superbo amore, al mondo imperi |
| Couperin | A l’ombre d’un ormeau |
| Draghi | The Italian Ground |
| Purcell | Two daughters of this aged stream (from King Arthur) |
| Purcell | Oh, the sweet delights of love (from Dioclesian) |
- Claire Tomlin soprano
- Emma Bishton soprano
- Louise Jameson bass violin
- Peter Holman harpsichord
We celebrate St Valentine’s Day with a delightful programme on the theme of love in its various aspects, sacred and secular and from first rapture to profound grief. Baroque composers revelled in the bright and sensuous sonorities of two sopranos with continuo, producing masterpieces such as Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s sensuous ‘Spring’ motet setting lines from the Song of Solomon, Henry Purcell’s Elegy on the Death of Queen Mary and François Couperin’s superb setting of the Magnificat.
In the second half we lower the tone with frank and witty explorations of secular love, by Monteverdi, Charpentier and Couperin, ending with duets from Purcell’s King Arthur and Dioclesian.