SHEFFIELD: University Firth Hall

TUE 30TH NOV, 2010 19:30

Jessop Sinfonia
David Ross (conductor)
Anthony Gowing (organ)
Peter Hill (piano)
Louise Wayman (soprano)

Winnaretta Singer was the half-American half-French heiress to the Singer Sewing Machine Company fortune. She was wife of Prince Edmond de Polignac, a composer, and it was through this marriage, her aristocratic circles, and her fortune that Polignac quickly became one of Europe’s leading patron of the arts. It was in 1894 that she established her Salon, where she would use her fortune to financially support and befriend some of the most important artists of the 20th century. It was this salon that the first performances of music by Poulenc, Ravel, Satie, Milhaud, Stravinsky, and Faure took place, and her interests extended beyond music, inspiring the likes of Proust, Jean Cocteau, Monet and Diaghilev.

This concert aims to reconstruct one of Poliginac’s illustrious concerts, namely one that took place on Saturday 16 December 1938. Researchers have gathered evidence of only a small fraction of Polignac’s programming and sources include printed programmes, newspaper reports and private letters and diaries. A further addition to Polignac’s original programme is Erik Satie’s astonishingly beautiful Socrate - a short secular oratorio in three parts, based on Victor Cousin's translation of works by Plato on texts referring to Socrates. The rarely performed version for piano and one soprano will be used, the format used when premiered in Polignac's salon, with Polignac's niece singing all four parts accompanied by Erik Satie at the piano himself.

In addition to forming part of the Autumn 2010 Concert Season, this concert also features in the University of Sheffield's “Gay Icons Project”, a programme of events exploring historically influential and iconic gay men and women across the cultural spectrum. For more information on the project please visit
www.gayiconsproject.co.uk

Poulenc: Organ Concerto (commissioned for Polignac)
Purcell: Suite (Incidental Music from Abdelazer)
Poulenc: Songs dedicated to Marie-Blanche de Polignac
Satie: Socrate (commissioned for Polignac)

Tickets: £8, £5 (concessions/staff), £2.50 (students/unwaged)
(There is no admission charge for the talk)