Madame Brillon At Last
A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from a senior scholar in musicology telling me that contrary to my understanding and that of many others whom I respect, women had not, in fact, been neglected in standard narratives of music history. I received this message shortly after giving a lecture-recital with Yi-heng Yang about Madame Anne-Louise Brillon de Jouy, a woman of the French Enlightenment who composed as well as played, and to whom many other composers dedicated works. Looking around online, I have found that virtually *nothing* of Brillon's music has been recorded and very little of it issued in modern edition. As a result, Yi-heng and I thought we should put this recording up. With others in The Raritan Players we hope to explore more of Brillon's work in the coming months and years. In the meantime, maybe this recording, made live at the American Philosophical Society in September 2017, will be useful for teaching and thinking...