MUSICAL PORTRAITS FROM THE SALONS OF PARIS
ELIZABETH ANDERSON (harpsichord)

In pre-revolutionary France, the salon was a meeting place for an international aristocracy. Noted aristocrats would stage several salon concerts for invited audiences every month. The 'character piece' or 'portrait piece' thrived in this intimate environment, and these works, though surpisingly rarely heard and hardly known nowadays, were typical of the most popular music of their time.