Filament presents Rococo Dialogues

Rococo Dialogues is titled for the ornamental artistic style in vogue in 18th-century France. Sixty minutes long and presented without intermission, the concert was a visit to the musical world of Anne Louise Brillon de Jouy (1744-1824). Brillon was a musician and keyboard artist (she and her daughters were accomplished harpsichordists) whose Paris salon was renowned for both the music played there and for its attendees. She was a confidante (and perhaps more) of Benjamin Franklin, who, as the ambassador from the then-American Colonies, was a frequent guest in her home and at her salons.

Celebrated in her time but not well-known in ours, Brillon both wrote and championed a new kind of chamber music: the accompanied keyboard sonata. Renowned composers dedicated works to her. Filament’s concert exploring and celebrating her era featured two of these, as well as two compositions by Mozart and a sparkling one by Brillon herself.

A modern premiere

Filament cannily opened with Brillon’s Trio in A minor, a wonderfully erudite and charming three-movement work (Allegro, Andantino, and Minuetto) that displayed her compositional gifts and set up the music to follow. Since she was an accomplished keyboard player, it’s not surprising that Brillon wrote dazzlingly for her own instrument. Often in music of this period, the harpsichord is a continuo instrument, heard under others. But Brillon brings it to the fore, giving it equal prominence in dazzling runs and sharing eloquent melodic lines among all three Filament players, whose virtuosity and joy in the work was infectious.

This performance was a modern premiere, likely the first time that Brillon’s Trio has been heard since the 1700s. The work was never published in her lifetime, and Walthausen unearthed the score at the American Philosophical Society, where her papers are housed.

Schobert, Mozart, and Boccherini

Next was another Trio, a four-movement work by Johann Schobert (1735-1767). It opened with a melodic Andante, followed by a Polonaise where the violin seemed to dance on top of the other two instruments and a beautifully sculpted Minuet, closing with a Presto movement that again highlighted the virtuosity of these players.

The Schobert work (which he dedicated to Brillon) was followed by two early works by Mozart. His Variations on Hèlas, j’ai perdu mon amour (Alas, I’ve lost my lover) is a series of clever, sometimes melodramatic treatments of a ballad-like tune well-known at the time. And the concert closed with his Sonata in G Major (KV 11), a work of freshness and lilt that was filled with rhythmic stops and starts where Filament’s communication skills came to the fore.

The penultimate work on the program, like the Brillon that opened it, was one of the concert’s highlights: Sonata No. 1 in B-flat by Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805). This three-movement work was a change of pace from the rest of the program, opening with a delicate, refined Allegro, followed by a sedate Adagio that allowed for a breather in this well-structured musical outing. The work finished with a flourish, though—a flashy Presto movement filled with arpeggiated keyboard writing and plenty of Italianate flair. Like Schobert, Boccherini also dedicated this work to Brillon.

More chances to listen

Chamber music in this period was also sometimes played on the piano, an instrument coming into vogue at the time, but Walthausen brought his harpsichord, a stunning 1994 replica (built by Earl Russell) of an instrument in the collection of Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Since there was considerable scholarship in finding and putting together this music, some program notes would have been welcome.

The concert in Christ Church Christiana Hundred’s beautiful and intimate chapel (a perfect venue for this music) was part of the church’s Music by Candlelight series, but the good news is that Filament will give this engaging performance twice more. On February 23 in Philadelphia and on March 23 in Bryn Mawr, you can once more hear the rococo world of Brillon’s salons come to life.