Between criminology and musical discovery, a surprising baroque cluedo

As the saying goes, "music softens the soul". Does it?
Force est de constater que quelques légendes noires accompagnent parfois le parcours de grands noms de la musique baroque. Songeons à Stradella poignardé dans son lit par un mari jaloux, Gesualdo faisant assassiner sa femme avec son amant… et bien d’autres.

Jean-Marie Leclair, meanwhile, was found by his gardener in his Paris home one early morning in 1764, pierced by three blows from a dagger. So who killed this brilliant composer and violinist, born in Lyon in 1697? His ex-wife, whom he had just left, or a turbulent nephew? The gardener or a jealous colleague? What is the role of the sulphurous Duc de Gramont, his 'protector'? The investigation, which was fairly thorough for its time, has never revealed the true background to this murder, which was strange in more ways than one.

This ‘cold case’ is the starting point for our project: mixing the works of Jean-Marie Leclair with those of his contemporaries, we will discover the musical identity of this genius, still too little known by the general public. But will we also discover the identity of his murderer?

An original interaction

More than just a concert of baroque music, our programme invites the audience to reopen this cold case and investigate throughout the concert. To help them in this delicate process, elements of the investigation from the period, collected by Amos Frappa, as well as illustrations of the protagonists by Mathieu Rebière, will be projected onto the screen behind the musicians. Franck-Emmanuel Comte will enrich the audience's imagination with elements of historical context put together by the journalist Luc Hernandez. To help the jury find the culprit, the audience, transformed for the evening into a popular jury, will vote using a deck of five cards handed out at the start of the concert.