The Cascade Early Music Festival presents Louis XIV’s Bassoon, a concert that will explore the role of the bassoon at the court of Louis XIV and later during the 18th century.
The performance on Saturday, Jan. 9 will include baroque bassoonist Anna Marsh, baroque flutist Jeffrey Cohan, baroque oboist Sand Dalton and lutenist John Lenti. The concert starts at 7 p.m. at Grace Church on Lopez.
The musicians will also perform on Sunday, Jan. 10 at 2 p.m. in St. David’s Episcopal Church in Friday Harbor.
This program, featuring the seldom-heard baroque bassoon, will explore one of the most precious, unpublished, and little-known musical manuscripts in the Library of Congress. Prepared by André Danican Philidor l’ainé, Music Librarian to Louis XIV, and presented in 1695 to the Duke of Bavaria, Elector Maximilian II Emanuel, it contains 220 works from operas and other works by Louis XIV’s favorite composers such as Lully, De la Lande, Charpentier and Lambert, all transcribed by Philidor for bassoon and one or two additional instruments for the Duke’s private entertainment. Philidor’s own “Air pour la Flûte Allemande,” which predates any other known solo specifically for the baroque transverse flute, will be heard along with other selections from this volume.
The suggested donation is $15. Youth 18 and under are free. For more information, call 468-3477, 378-5360, or visit www.cemf.org.