Les Canards Chantants performs at Glencairn Museum Oct 11

Renowned early-music vocal ensemble Les Canards Chantantspresents a concert exploring the Song of Songs: joie de vivre in 16th-century Munich, in Glencairn Museum’s Great Hall on Friday, October 11, at 7:30pm.

The group performs passionate settings of the Song of Songs by Renaissance composers Senfl, Lechner and Lassus, intermingled with madrigals, chansons and lieder in “a spread of music to satiate both the spirit and the flesh,” according to Robin Bier, one of the group’s co-directors.

“As Leonhard Lechner wrote in the preface to his 1589 publication of sacred and secular lieder: ‘Since the Lord God especially gave not only the beloved art of Music for the honour and praise of his Almighty name, but also for the honourable entertainment of mankind and especially his dear children, why would man himself not make use of secular songs and things?’

“Despite living in a time where in certain circles the act of composing madrigals could get you fired from your church job, it seems that few composers could resist the temptation. Ludwig Senfl, Leonhardt Lechner, Orlande de Lassus and Johannes Eccard, who rubbed shoulders as teachers, students and colleagues in Munich over the course of the sixteenth century, all brought forth songs in celebration of the triple muse of love, music, and alcohol with such alacrity and stylistic abandon that it is not always clear whether the subject is divine or earthly in nature.”

Highlights of the evening’s program include Das Hohelied Salomonis by Lechner, Tota pulchra es and Ach Elslein, liebes Elslein mein by Senfl, Veni dilecte mi and La terre, les eaux va buvant by Lassus and Gut singer und ein Organist by Eccard.

Doors open at 7:00pm. $20 General Admission, $15 Basic Members/Seniors/Students with ID, Free for Gold and Patron Members. Advance tickets available through October 9 at the Museum or call 267.502.2990; after October 9, only at the door. Reserved seats for Patron Members only: call 267.502.2990.

For more information: 267.502.2990 or www.GlencairnMuseum.org. Glencairn Museum: 1001 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn 19009.

Praised for their “polished singing” and for “instilling their superb performances with liveliness and theatricality” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer) and for their “brilliant and moving” programming (Early Music America magazine), Les Canards Chantants is a solo-voice ensemble committed to dynamic interpretation of renaissance polyphony. The “singing ducks” have performed to high acclaim in the UK, Germany, and China, and are now based in Philadelphia, where they are musical Ensemble in Residence at Glencairn Museum.