The libretto is "music before the music"

The methodology starts from the poetic form of the libretto, the expressive verse rhythm in which the poet cast the text before the music existed. This is thoroughly refined to maximally sense and utilize the expressive content: this is also what the composer based himself on and drew inspiration from when composing. Every detail of the verse – content, intentions, and affects – is recognized in the poetic rhythm of the libretto, analyzed in depth, and aloud expressively-rhythmically "declaimed" in the initial phase before singing. This preparatory way of working mirrors the practice of Goethe as theater director in Weimar: it is known that he sat around the table with the singers to work on the text before other rehearsals began.

When this foundation is fully internalized, and the skill is acquired to make and internalize these expressive analyses independently, singers gain an autonomy that serves them for their entire further career. This approach deepens their vision, intensifies their experience of the text, and substantially elevates their expressivity – in opera, song, oratorio, any repertoire.

The second component, most visible to the concertgoer but arising coherently from the previously laid foundation, is the scenic element: the acting style, postures, movements, and gestures born from the text itself. We work with an acting style inspired by 18th-century practices.

Just as a train runs on two tracks, these two tracks together result in an overarching approach, an approach Marie Kuijken has named "Expressive 18th-century Acting".

The extent to which a particular LPB production is fully staged or semi-staged varies. Even in forms that are traditionally not staged, such as song and oratorio, a scenic intention arises from the inner world of the text, manifesting in gaze, expression, and minimal but expressive gestures. In our chamber music serenades – programs with one singer and two instruments – this profound approach is particularly present. The selection of scenes focuses on moments when the character is alone on stage and finds themselves in an inner and dramatic pivotal moment. In smaller venues, the audience can empathize more closely with the singer's expression. Experience shows that listeners are deeply moved by these programs.

To date, four chamber music serenades have been created with different singers:
Gestrandete Frauen / Donne abbandonate (mezzo-soprano, Mozart/Haydn)
Deh cessate i miei tormenti (soprano, Mozart)
Dì che per essa moro (tenor, Mozart/Gluck)
Quel ben che invan desio (baritone, Mozart/Haydn)
This series grows with new singers and new repertoire.

Our ambition for the future

The overarching approach of "Expressive 18th-century Acting" is passed on to singers by Marie Kuijken and further deepened and developed together with them, with the intention that it can also be disseminated to colleagues and other ensembles.

The methodology that Marie Kuijken has developed fills an essentially missing dimension in historically informed performance practice for singers. Our intention is to deepen this practice and elaborate it as a creative and practical process. Therefore, together with interested and selected singers, we are planning additional research. This will result in the creation of specifically written material, as well as audio and video material, and in making these results accessible via this website: material that fellow singers and instrumentalists can freely consult and engage in dialogue with us about.

Just as the chin-off violin technique spread throughout the world via Sigiswald Kuijken and La Petite Bande in the 1970s and 1980s and became the standard for historically informed string playing, it is now our ambition with La Petite Bande to give this vocal-scenic dimension recognition in the world of early music. Not only through our productions, but especially through the singers themselves who internalize the methodology as their own practice and carry it forward – to colleagues, to ensembles, to the next generation.

We will keep you informed of further developments.

Marie Kuijken, March 2026
 

Performance in Asse

Thus, in his house in Uccle, there are a dozen miniature baroque theatrical scenes, carefully and lovingly assembled and painted, in which all sorts of characters are active - each in a space of about a cubic metre... Everything lives and talks in it, we are in the middle of it, so to speak... This is not a meticulous "reconstruction", but a powerful fantasy, a communicative energy, which blows over this "old" design!
The "baroque" bursts out everywhere in this simple house: everything is theatrical, artfully arranged and applied - the eye does not know where to look first. Even the modest garden contains many baroque and classical sculptures, as you would expect...
The painting studio itself, on the top floor, is relatively small. Everywhere there are folders containing gouaches (landscapes, figures, allegories, still lifes) and drawings for theatre sets.

Thierry is not aiming to receive many visitors, he seems to like being alone in his kingdom. As a visitor, you are welcome, but he is not an exuberant guide in his domain... This modesty characterises him. 

In 1993 we asked him to create the sets and costumes for Antonio Caldara's opera "I Disingannati" (a carnival opera based on Moliere's Misanthrope - Vienna, 1729), which we performed with LPB at the Innsbruck Early Music Festival, of which Réné Jacobs was then the artistic director. I can still see Thierry in front of me, there in the studio of the Landestheater, painting the costumes (yes!) in his dashing, baroque style. It was unforgettable and impressive - he was in his element! Later, in the nineties, he painted on a large window in our house in Asse: sometimes he worked with two brushes at the same time - one in each hand! In this way, the flowers came out of his imaginative brain incredibly quickly...
In 2001 he published a beautiful book on "Versailles Disparu" - On the one hand, he painted for this book many famous buildings and gardens still existing within this incomparable domain, but on the other hand, he also includes paintings of many constructions and views that unfortunately have disappeared by now.



In the spring of this year 2021, we asked Thierry Bosquet to create a painting for the 50th anniversary of La Petite Bande in 2022.

 

1. Requiem KV 626 - Version for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853) Introitus: Requiem
2. Requiem KV 626 - Version for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853) Kyrie
3. Requiem KV 626 - Version for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853) Dies Irae
4. Requiem KV 626 - Version for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853) Tuba mirum
5. Requiem KV 626 - Version for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853) Rex tremendae
6. Requiem KV 626 - Version for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853) Recordare
7. Requiem KV 626 - Version for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853) Confutatis
8. Requiem KV 626 - Version for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853) Lacrimosa
9. Requiem KV 626 - Version for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853) Domine Jesu Christe
10. Requiem KV 626 - Version for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853) Hostias
11. Requiem KV 626 - Version for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853) Sanctus
12. Requiem KV 626 - Version for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853) Benedictus
13. Requiem KV 626 - Version for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853) Agnus Dei
14. Requiem KV 626 - Version for string quartet by Peter Lichtenthal (1780-1853) Lux aeterna

https://www.challengerecords.com/products/161409370377.01

This recording was made at the beginning of February 2020 in the somewhat futuristic theatre in Blaibach (Bavaria - you can see it via Google as soon as you enter "Blaibach"...) which was built in 2014 on the initiative of the German baryton Thomas Bauer. You can also listen to Thomas Bauer on this CD: he participated as a soloist and bass in the vocal quartet ! 

Finally, due to the corona crisis, this recording was the last activity of LPB this year 2020: all the other projects of 2020 were cancelled one by one from March onwards, or postponed to a later date, which often had to be cancelled again  ... 
The future of cultural life all over the world remains uncertain ... La Petite Bande has enough plans, the audience will be able to enjoy our performances again as soon as possible! 

How to proceed to donate?

1. Please, send us by mail (info@lapetitebande.be) the necessary information concerning your donation: your name, home address, the language in which you want to receive the book (English, French , German or Dutch), the number of books, the way of payment you will use.
2. For transmitting your donation, you can make a bank transfer to the bank-account of “Votre Petite Bande”
   IBAN: BE30 4310 6868 0111
   BIC: KREDBEBB

Mozart wrote these three concertos for harpsichord or fortepiano, with full orchestra. He also wrote them in such a way that the wind parts might be omitted, and the traditional four string quartet instruments used to create a chamber version of the work. Clearly, this called for very careful string writing and attention to balance. Colour, too, will have been a consideration for Mozart as he wrote for winds to enrich the orchestral texture.
This recording uses fortepiano with the quartet version but makes one important change. Conductor and, in this instance, first violinist Sigiswald Kuijken has replaced the cello with a double bass. His argu¬ment for this is that Mozart would likely have assumed that most private buyers of his published score owned harpsichords and would have chosen the chamber version, where the harpsichord was better balanced with the four string instruments. In choosing to record with the more robust fortepiano, the louder, richer bass was an equally robust alternative to the cello. Additionally, switching to double bass moves that pitch an octave lower, creating a fuller, more orchestral effect for the small ensemble.
The choice is a calculated but clever and effective one. It places a larger scale work in an intimate setting for a very satisfying and engaging performance.