"Je m'abandonne à vous" Songs on Poems by Henriette de Coligny, Comtesse de La Suze

At a time when only men were considered worthy of being poets, Henriette de Coligny cut a cultural swath across 17th-century Paris, seducing the French capital’s most fashionable salons with her exquisite musings on love. She caught the attention of many composers, too, who saw the musical potential in her work and wrote songs to be performed in aristocratic drawing rooms, effectively predating the soirées of Fauré and Saint-Saëns by more than 150 years. This album of over 30 songs, alongside instrumental interludes, provides fascinating insight into this largely forgotten musical scene, which was dominated by composers such as Sébastien Le Camus, Michel Lambert, and Bertrand de Bacilly. De Coligny’s poetry is tender and yearning, and the songs—stunningly performed here by French baritone Marc Mauillon and others—are full of beguiling simplicity and passionate intimacy.