Dragons and Dungeons

Songs of dragons real and imagined.

In early modern Europe, dragons were real and personal. A dragon believed to be lurking in a nearby cave or bog induced fear, but also unifying pride. Dragons even appear alongside documented animals in natural history texts until the mid-eighteenth century, when scientists of the Enlightenment tried to convince the masses that dragons were “a most terrible animal, but most probably imagined.”

This concert presents baroque songs and instrumental music about dragons of all scales and character: dragons as symbols of honor and virtue, dragons as allegory for the devil, and dragons as guards of forbidden treasure or captives. Performed on period instruments, the program presents works in English, French, Italian, German, and Norwegian by baroque stalwarts Telemann, Handel, Purcell, and Jacquet de La Guerre.