NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
Echoes Across the Atlantic: from London and Paris to the Caribbean
by Jeannette Sorrell

Across the Atlantic in both directions, history speaks in echoes. More than 2,000 miles of water stretches between Europe and the Americas. In the 18th century, the great ocean linked Europe, Africa, and the Americas in a triangle of trade, wealth, and enslavement – while holding them at a distance. It served as a road for ships, commerce, and power, while acting as a veil that protected those on European shores from seeing the human cost of their actions and investments, far away across the waters.

European empires struggled for command of sea and sugar, cotton and coffee. In England and France, baroque music rang from churches, opera houses, and concert halls, sustained by the vast wealth drawn from the labor and suffering of enslaved people in the New World – too far to be seen. Across the ocean, enslaved Africans were brought to the Americas by force, while Indigenous peoples were nearly destroyed by conquest and disease.

In 1709, George Frideric Handel’s opera Agrippina premiered in Venice to huge acclaim. In the same year, far across the ocean, an enslaved man in Guadeloupe gave an eloquent funeral oration for his deceased friend – a fellow slave who had been murdered by the plantation owner for stealing a loaf of bread. Handel, like many well-to-do Englishmen, invested financially in the slave trade but probably did not ask many questions about how the enslaved people were treated. “Civilized” society was blinded to its loss of moral compass – perhaps not for the last time? History speaks in echoes.

Our concert honors both the composers in the opera houses and the enslaved people in the Caribbean. Their stories – human tales of love and loss, madness and resilience – echo across the Atlantic, reminding us that humanity, though fallible, is capable of redemption, triumph, and joy.

I. STORMY SEAS

We begin with music inspired by ocean voyages. Handel’s Agrippina, composed while Handel was still studying in Italy, is considered his first operatic masterpiece. The virtuoso coloratura aria, L’alma mia fra le tempeste (My soul tossed by fierce storms) is a brilliant example of the baroque “storm aria,” in which a soprano compares the tempests of the heart to a storm at sea.

Rameau’s Dardanus, premiered in 1739 but was completely revised in 1744. The aria Quand l’aquilon fougueux s’échappe de sa chaîne (When the tempestuous North Wind breaks its chains) is from the Prologue, which centers on Venus (Aphrodite, goddess of Love). In an extensive recitativo accompagnato, Venus commands Troubles and Suspicions to transform themselves into gentle devotion. The orchestra responds with a flurry of activity, which Venus soon joins as she sings of the tempestuous North Winds that ravage the seas – a metaphor for the turbulence of Troubles and Suspicions.

The French composer and gambist Marin Marais wrote exquisite chamber music and the great opera Alcyone for performance at Versailles. Alcyone premiered in 1706 in Paris and is admired today for its inventive orchestral writing. The graceful Chaconne, which would have been danced, shows the influence of Marais’ teacher, Lully. The Act IV tempest scene is one of the earliest and wildest portrayals of a storm in opera. The “Marche des Matelots” (Sailor’s March) from Act III draws its tune from an old French folk carol, known in England and North America as “Masters in This Hall.”

II. RESILIENCE

In this set, the funeral oration from the enslaved man in Guadeloupe is book-ended on either side by two contrasting songs about Death. We open with Pepusch’s gentle “Welcome, Gentle Death” from Venus and Adonis (1715), in which Adonis surrenders to Death. This intimate chamber aria uses just flauto traverso and continuo as companions for the voice.

“A SPEECH made by a Black of Gardaloupe at the Funeral of a Fellow-Negro” was published in 1709 in London, in an anthology of writings from the New World. Its soaring and persuasive appeal to morality and human dignity gave strength to the fledging abolitionist movement on both sides of the Atlantic.

Taking us into intermission, we meet the Caribbean perspective on dying. “Lè M’Mouri,” a setting of the 20th-century Haitian poem Testaman, shines with resilience and a sense of love for family and friends. The song tells us that “all the places where there were great bashes, where people are free – they’ll remember me.”

III. A WOMAN’S HEART

Whether living in splendid palaces or laboring on a plantation, women throughout history have often shared the same stories, joys, and sorrows. This set opens with Handel’s masterful aria “Ombre pallide” from Alcina (1735). This aria from the end of Act II captures the moment when the sorceress Alcina realizes that for the first time in her life, she truly loves someone – but he does not love her. As her magical powers begin to crumble, she tries to summon up the spirits and ghosts who have always served her – but they do not come. This brilliant depiction of a powerful woman made suddenly vulnerable is one of Handel’s most memorable scenes.

Lully’s elegant Passecaille from Persée brings us to a quieter mood, and we arrive at the shores of Jamaica…. In the Caribbean traditional folk song “Call up meh rosebud,” a young woman on the seashore cries in anguish because the steam ship did not bring a letter from the father of her baby. The song evokes the story of hundreds (probably thousands) of young women who gave birth to children of European sailors – only to find themselves abandoned. This set concludes with the evocative 20th-century calypso, “Morena Osha,” about a beautiful woman who haunts the landscape.

IV. THE FOLLY OF LOVE

Our final set begins with fire and folly. The traditional folia tune and dance served as inspiration for Vivaldi as well as several other baroque composers (Corelli, Marias, Geminiani, and C.P.E. Bach). Scholars believe that the dance originated in Portugal, where young girls would engage in the “folly” or “madness” of a wild dance around the fire. The folia is a triple-meter ground bass, beginning in a haughty sarabande-like rhythm, and traditionally growing faster and wilder toward the end. The tune is full of the dramatic tension of courtship and seduction. Vivaldi’s version of La Folia, which I believe is the finest of them all, was originally a trio sonata. I arranged it as a concerto grosso so that all of us could join in the fray.

Rameau’s Platée is his most zany and fanciful opera. He perfectly captured the spirit of folly in his notable aria for the character La Folie (a soprano who personifies folly or madness). The aria seems to be about Apollo, Cupid and Daphne – but perhaps is mostly about La Folie herself.

We hope that this concert provides a moment of reflection, hope, and resolve. We leave you with a Caribbean “bless up” – a warm wish for well-being.

© Jeannette Sorrell
September 2026, Cleveland, Ohio