Marin Marais and "The Bladder Stone Operation"

November 5, 2024

Marin Marais and "The Bladder Stone Operation"

***Gaspare Traversi: Die Operation (1753)***
***It must be Election Day!***

Last week I referred to a "novelty work" by Marin Marais for cello and harpsichord and narrator on the Winter Baroque concert (December 22^nd at 3:00 at St. Paul's - tickets on sale here). It all starts with a kidney stone. If you have had one, I’m told the pain is akin to childbirth. While I’ve never birthed a baby, I have had a kidney stone. I thought I was dying.

French baroque composer Marin Marais had a similar experience. He even chronicled the operation he underwent in 1725 at 64 years old in a short work titled, imaginatively, Le Tableau de l'Opération de la Taille ("The Bladder-Stone Operation"). You know what they didn’t have in 1720? Anesthesia!

The libretto is not for the faint of heart.

The patient trembles at the sight of the operating table,
and his arms and legs are secured with silk restraints.
The incision is made,
and forceps are inserted.
*The stone is pulled out, and blood flows.*
*The patient's voice dies away to a croak.*
The cords are removed,
and the patient is carried to bed.

Manuscript to
“Le Tableau de l'Opération de la Taille”

The rest of the concert should be considerably more relaxing with some of the most beloved, comforting music ever written including Vivaldi’s triple concerto L’Estro Armonico, a life-affirming solo cello suite by Bach, a stormy concerto grosso by Handel, and Bach’s perfect double concerto for two violins. What better way to celebrate the holidays? The concert is a little over an hour with no intermission.

If you’ve been good this year, Santa might just have a very special encore for you.

David Yang, Artistic Director