The Royal Lute: music for lute from French and German courts
A solo recital by Benjamin Narvey

In December, join us at the Canadian Cultural Centre for a recital by Benjamin Narvey, with special guest Louise Ayrton on violin.

The lute has a long history as the courtly instrument of kings, and the music that court musicians wrote for their monarchs in the 17th and 18th centuries represents some of the most refined repertoire in the Western art canon. Lutenist Benjamin Narvey invites you to an intimate solo recital that showcases some of these works, with a special emphasis on those that have not yet been performed in modern times and that – until now – have remained unknown to modern audiences.

This recital will be a musical tour of both sides of the Rhine, with sonatas composed for the royal courts of Augustus II in Dresden, of Frederick III in Bayreuth, and of Maximilian III Joseph in Munich, and of “pièces de luth” composed at Versailles, the “Sun King” of France…. and, of course, of Canada. 

Indeed, this recital has a strong Canadian connection. The Sun King’s lutenist Robert de Visée wrote one piece, a “tombeau en musique” – a kind of musical memorial –  in memory of Henri de Tonty, lieutenant to the great French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. Tonty was an intrepid explorer of New France and founder of several French forts throughout the colony. This work a rare example of “Canadian” baroque music and will be performed with special guest Louise Ayrton for the first time since the Seventeenth Century at the Canadian Cultural Centre.

Further information: www.luthiste.com