On Sunday 13th December from 15.00 to 17.00 there will be a double length episode of L’Esprit Baroque . We'll be following the cultural journey which the Leiden lawyer Jan Alensoon took through Europe in the 18th century.
In the years 1723/24 Jan Alensoon (1683 – 1769) travelled via Belgium, France and Italy through Switzerland and Germany and back again, during which he made the most musical contacts in Italy. Throughout Europe Alensoon found himself most at home among artists, including those of noble birth.
Jan Alensoon was famous for his unique voice. He had a range of three octaves so that he could sing both bass and high falsetto. In Venice he sang duets with the famous singer Faustina Bordoni, the wife of Johann Adolf Hasse.
A year after Jan Alensoon's return the Leiden composer Unico van Wassenaer wrote his Concerti Armonici.
In the two parts of The Grand Tour of Jan Alensoon you can hear music that he would have come across during his journey of musical discovery through Europe.
We're playing music by Henri Desmarest, Giovanni Porta, Giovanni Battista Somis, Giuseppe Sammartini, Domenico Sarri, Nicola Porpora, Marc Roger Normand Couperin, Michel L’Affilard and of course Unico van Wassenaer.
The Grand Tour of Jan Alensoon, part 1:
Sunday 13th December 2015, 15.00 tot 16.00
Repeat: Monday 21st December 2015, 11.00 – 12.00
