The Vanity of the World – Poetry, Song, and the Dangers of Beauty in Calvinist Geneva

As part of his senior thesis, Comparative Literature major Joseph Gauvreau ’17 will be collaborating with Gallicantus, the renowned British early music ensemble directed by Gabriel Crouch, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Music. In this event, part lecture and part concert, they will explore a collection of 16th century Calvinist poems, the Octonaires sur la Vanité et Inconstance du Monde, along with their musical settings by the contemporaneous composer Paschal de l’Estocart. Dark, acidic injunctions against the dangers of worldly beauty are brought to life in a fascinatingly unique but little-known set of songs ranging from the hauntingly strange to the paradoxically alluring.