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Musique pour le Coucher du Roi: Chamber music from the court of Louis XIV.

In addition to ruling a nation, Louis XIV presided over one of Europe’s most lavish royal musical establishments, and his taste in music strongly influenced musical tastes across France. Only the best French musicians were members of the musique de chambre, the king’s private retinue of musicians who performed for him in his personal chambers. Louis’s highly choreographed day was capped off by the coucher, a set of ceremonies that surrounded the king’s evening meal and bedtime. The coucher always involved music, and over the years it brought together such illustrious musicians as Lully, Marais, Couperin, and Rebel, who performed their compositions for the music-obsessed Sun King. We’ll recapture what a musical evening in Louis’s innermost chambers may have been like, presenting music by the king’s favorites in sets interspersed with brief readings from diaries written at Versailles during Louis’s life. Join us at it’ll be très magnifique!