Ralph Dutli

She is one of the most important French poets and a prominent female voice in world poetry, who campaigned for the dignity of women and demanded equal rights with men. Louise Labé, born in Lyon in 1524, was the daughter of a rope manufacturer, the wife of a rope manufacturer and ran a salon that was regarded as a European hub for the ideas of the Italian humanists. She spoke several languages, played several musical instruments and practiced horse riding and fencing. The passionate love sonnets of “Sappho of Lyon”, as she was known, were translated by Rainer Maria Rilke and Paul Zech, among others, and inspired countless people.

To mark her 500th birthday, translator and writer Dr. Ralph Dutli will read Louise Labé’s poems and those of her contemporaries Clément Marot and Pierre de Ronsard, also in his own translations. Alternating settings by the composer Viktor Ullmann, who was murdered in Auschwitz, and Maurice Ravel can be heard with J. Marc Reichow on the piano and Clémence Boullu (soprano).

In cooperation with the German-French Cultural Circle Heidelberg (dfk) and KlangForum Heidelberg