The Dryden Ensemble presents “A German Princess at Versailles,” a concert combining music with eyewitness accounts of life at the French court on Saturday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, located at 6587 Upper York Road in Solebury, Pa., and on Sunday, April 19 at 3 p.m. at Miller Chapel, located on the campus of Princeton Theological Seminary. Tickets are $25 for general admission and $10 for students. Tickets may be purchased at the door or online at www.drydenensemble.org.

The concert features performers Roberta Maxwell and Paul Hecht in dramatic readings from the letters of Elisabeth Charlotte, sister-in-law to Louis XIV, and the memoirs of Saint-Simon, a soldier, diplomat, and diarist at the French court. Elisabeth Charlotte, a princess of the Palatinate, married the widowed brother of Louis XIV in 1672 at the age of 19. For the remainder of her life, she was not allowed to leave the French court, nor to visit friends and family in Germany, so instead she carried on a lively correspondence with them, sometimes writing as many as 40 letters per week.

An ensemble of oboe, violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord will perform chamber music by Lully, Louis Couperin, Marais, and François Couperin, including works for the viola da gamba by Marin Marais featuring Lisa Terry.

Known to Princeton audiences for the role of Edna in Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance at McCarter Theatre, Roberta Maxwell has performed with Ethan Hawke in Chekhov’s Ivanhov at Classic Stage in New York, on Broadway in Equus, Othello, Henry V, and The Merchant of Venice, and Off-Broadway in Stevie, Ashes (Obie Award), Mary Stuart, and A Whistle in the Dark (Obie Award).

Paul Hecht has performed extensively on stage, in movies, and for television. He made his debut on Broadway as the Player in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead (Tony nomination 1968). Other Broadway appearances include: Night & Day with Maggie Smith, Invention of Love (Tom Stoppard), 1776 (original company), The Rothschilds, Shaw’s Caesar & Cleopatra, and Pirandello’s Henry IV (both with Rex Harrison). TV audience members may recognize him from his appearances over the years as Charles in Kate & Allie and as several unsavory characters on Law and Order.

The Dryden Ensemble includes Jane McKinley, oboe; Vita Wallace, violin; Lisa Terry, bass viola; and Webb Wiggins, harpsichord, all performing on period instruments.

Because 2015 is the 300th anniversary of the death of Louis XIV, the Graphic Arts Collection at Princeton University has mounted an exhibit entitled “Versailles on Paper” in the Main Gallery of Firestone Library, which will be on view until July 19, 2015. For more information visit: http://rbsc.princeton.edu/versailles. Included in the exhibit are an engraving of Elisabeth Charlotte’s husband, known in court as “Monsieur.” There is also a marriage contract from 1710 with her signature, as well as many engravings of the palace, gardens of Versailles, and the Sun King himself.