The Scents of Versailles

21 March 2025/19h00/ Finland / Helsinki

Intricate Baroque music from France

Marais – De la Guerre – Couperin – Rameau

FiBO players, with Markku Luolajan-Mikkola on viola da gamba
Anthony Marini, violin
Louna Hosia, viola da gamba
Marianna Henriksson, harpsichord

NB. During the concert, mild fragrances are used.

Markku Luolajan-Mikkola and Marianna Henriksson, programme planning

A tourist wandering through the palace of Versailles might ponder what it really was like there? The musician, who has a life-long relationship to sheet music, asks him- or herself the same question. Can a sound in itself convey information from a past life – and what about a scent?

This FiBO’s concert draws inspiration from life at the Sun King’s court, and the room will be filled not only with music but also with the scents of Trudon candles. The same manufacturer sold candles to Versailles and the important churches of Paris already during the reign of the Sun King. The scent you can sense in the concert is inspired by the floor wax in Versailles. Performing with the instrumental ensemble is FiBO’s former artistic director, the gambist Markku Luolajan-Mikkola.

Marin Marais (1656–1728) was the Sun King’s chamber musician. The virtuoso viola da gamba player enthralled his audiences with his exceptional interpretations and his playing technique. He is known to have written over 600 works for viola da gamba. FiBO’s concert programme features the lost soundscapes of The Bells of St. Genevieve(1723). Over the persistent bass line we get to hear a description of the daily life, decorated in a Baroque way.

Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665–1729) was very much admired as a keyboard player. She was the daughter of a musician and gained the patronage of Madame de Montespan, mistress of the Sun King, at an early stage. De la Guerre’s sonatas and cantatas were important examples of the Italian style in France at the time. Her violin sonata in D minor (ca 1707) is impressive in its sincere melancholy.

François Couperin’s (1668–1773) works for harpsichord contained not only music but also imitation of the surrounding world and jovial observations about society as well. His Royal Concerts (1714) are an example of colourful chamber music. They were not meant for dancing, not even if the King’s foot tapped against the floor.

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764) was one of the most important scholars of harmony and acoustics of his time. He also revolutionized the French opera and worked as an organist and harpsichordist at the Sun King’s court. His third Pièces de clavecin en concert (1741) is filled with charming surprises.
The Scents of Versailles

See more
events