D’autres lumières

Before April's neo-classical concert, classicism takes centre stage in this programme led by two virtuoso violinists well-versed in this repertoire. A classicism that gives voice to the Enlightenment, which at that time set Europe on the path to modernity.

The overture to Erwin et Elmire, composed by the brilliant and enlightened Anne-Amélie of Brunswick to the play that Goethe wrote as a mirror image of Mozart's The Magic Flute, is a case in point. It is to this Duchess of Saxony-Weimar, a fine musician and wise politician, that we owe the presence of the literary and philosophical elite in the city of Thuringia during the years of the "Weimarer Klassik", led by Goethe and Schiller, who turned it into the German Athens of the 18th century.

A typical child of the Enlightenment, the surprising Chevalier de Saint-George is a singular character with an astonishing destiny: the son of a black slave from Guadeloupe, he travelled through the Europe of his day, in turn a prodigy of the sword, the violin or war. His music, original and inspired, is in keeping with this extraordinary character.

As for the Polish Antoni Habel, he is a typical figure of the "lesser" masters with a certain talent who flourished in the courts of the time, for whom they provided music of perfect balance and excellent workmanship, a veritable daily musical bread kneaded in the shadow of the great geniuses of the century. Mozart was already a genius in 1778, when he wrote his 31st Symphony for the Parisian public.

But a despised genius: he came to the French capital to make a name for himself and launch his career, but left defeated and humiliated, having lost his mother and his hopes of greatness, for the hated Salzburg and its degrading yoke.