Women at Court: Ballads and Courtly Love

Ensemble VocaMe: Works by Hadewijch & Christine de Pizan

The Ensemble VocaMe explores in this concert the voices of outstanding women from the Middle Ages – personalities whose contributions to art, thought, and spirituality continue to resonate today. Alongside heartfelt love songs by the Brabantian poet Hadewijch, ballads by Christine de Pizan, the first female French writer, will be performed. Pizan's texts are still read today and are considered groundbreaking in the discourse about women and their roles in society. In Hadewijch's works, human experiences of love merge with reverent love for God. Four singers with enchanting timbres and wide ranges in their polyphonic singing, along with the tonal colors of the instrumental ensemble, create the musical signature of Ensemble VocaMe.

Like in a laboratory, artifacts from the Middle Ages are examined and dusted off – similar to restorers, the colors are refreshed, and experiments are conducted with the uncovered musical frameworks and melodies. The program series "Women at Court" is a tribute to Princess Wilhelmine of Hesse-Kassel on her 300th birthday: Who was the woman who married the Prussian prince Heinrich of Rheinsberg? The concerts invite audiences to reflect on female personalities like her – those who stood in the shadows yet made their own decisions, took on responsibilities, and left their mark. Thus, Wilhelmine becomes a namesake for today's "Wilhelmines": women who seek their path between societal expectations and their own voice.

"Women at Court" is a collaboration with the "Conversations at the Rheinsberg Muses' Court 2026" of the Arts and Culture Association Rheinsberg e.V.

Photo: Severin Schweiger

For more information: https://schlosstheater-rheinsberg.de/produktionen/balladen-und-die-minne/