Madame wider Willen - Liselotte von der Pfalz at the Court of the Sun King

"Being Madame is a wretched trade." - When Princess Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz is forced into a political marriage with the brother of Sun King Louis XIV, she finds herself thrust into the glittering inner circle of the French court. The down-to-earth "Liselotte" experiences a genuine culture shock amid the extravagant pomp of Versailles - and she tells us about it with remarkable candour and wit in more than 10,000 surviving letters: she writes frankly about pleasures and frustrations, hairstyle fashions and outlandish recipes, marital troubles and homesickness.

Our programme sets her impressions to music, reviving the soundscape of Versailles - between splendour and poetry - with works by Lully, Marais, Hotteterre, Corelli and others.

Join us on a musical journey to royal Versailles, and enjoy excerpts from Liselotte's letters as commentary from a most unusual tour guide!

Performing:
Mathis Wolfer, recorders
Julius Lorscheider, harpsichord

Mathis Wolfer and Julius Lorscheider are not only virtuosos on their respective instruments but also sensitive chamber partners. Trained in Amsterdam, Freiburg, Lyon and at the renowned Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, they discovered their musical affinity at the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb and bring chamber-music artistry to the repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries. They have already been heard together on Deutschlandfunk.

Concert supported by Deutscher Musikwettbewerb