The circulation of artists and sovereigns between France and England in the seventeenth century resulted in the establishment of highly original genres in the latter country: the first recitatives, large-scale airs from masques and dramatic ‘scenes’ provided fertile ground for experimentation and prepared the way for the birth of semi-opera. Sébastien Daucé explores this English vocal art in a programme tailor-made for one of today’s most fascinating voices: Lucile Richardot, in the exquisite setting provided by Ensemble Correspondances, subtly blends music, love, night and melancholy.

• Banister: Amintas, that true hearted swain
• Banister: Give me my lute
• Blow: Epilogue: Sing, Sing ye Muses
• Blow: Poor Celadon, he sighs in vain
• Coprario: Go, happy man
• Hart, James: Adieu to the Pleasures and Follies
• Hilton: Rise, princely shepherd
• Jackson, John: Phillis, oh! turn that face away
• Jenkins, J: Pavan No. 2 in F
• Johnson, R: Care-charming sleep
• Lawes, W: Britanocles the great and good appears
• Lawes, W: Justitia Sacrum (Whieles I This Standing Lake)
• Lawes, W: Music, the master of thy art is dead
• Locke: Sarabande
• Purcell: When Orpheus Sang
• Ramsey, R: Go perjur'd man! And if you e'er return
• Ramsey, R: Howl not, you ghosts and furies
• Ramsey, R: What Tears, dear Prince?
• Webb, W: Pow'rful Morpheus, let thy charms