Charpentier: Messe De Minuit Pour Noel / Te Deum

Description

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)Messe de Minuit pour No?½l Te Deum Dixit DominusWhile Lully held a dominant position in the musical life ofthe French court during much of his career, Marc-Antoine Charpentier,nevertheless, enjoyed a very considerable reputation. The exact year of hisbirth remains unknown, although 1643 offers a reasonable conjectural date.Probably born in Paris, he studied in Rome with Carissimi, acquiring from him aknowledge of contemporary Italian styles. Soon after his return he seems tohave entered the service of the King's cousin, the Duchess de Guise, Marie deLorraine, later assuming the position of her ma?«tre de musique, which he helduntil her death in 1688, winning favour as a proponent of the Italian stylethat had been championed by Cardinal Mazarin and had been supported by theKing. He collaborated with Moli?¿re, after the end of the latter's partnershipwith Lully in 1672, providing music in 1673 for his last play, Le maladeimaginaire, and continued to work with other playwrights of the ComedieFran?ºaise under the restrictive conditions imposed by Lully. Relatively briefdirect association with the court came in work for the Dauphin and a royalpension after his failure to achieve appointment in 1683 as a sous-ma?«tre ofthe Royal Chapel, when he withdrew from the final stage of the necessary competition.He gave lessons to the most musical member of the royal family, Philippe II deBourbon, the somewhat dissolute nephew of Louis XIV. Although valued by theKing and feared by Lully as a very possible rival, Charpentier won particularfame through his employment, probably from 1687, as ma?«tre de musique at theJesuit Church of St Louis, known to contemporaries as l'eglise de l'Operathrough its employment of singers from that establishment. It may be presumedthat the position was secured for him through the influence of Mlle de Guise.From 1698 until his death in 1704 he was ma?«tre de musique of theSainte-Chapelle, a position of considerable importance in the musicalestablishment of the country.Charpentier left a very large quantity of church music, Masssettings, sequences, antiphons, settings of the Tenebrae lessons andresponsories, canticle and psalm settings, motets for the Elevation anddramatic motets, with a smaller but not insignificant number of instrumentaland secular compositions, including songs, dramatic cantatas and music for thetheatre. Much of this reflects the influence of Italy, although his work forthe theatre inevitably demanded a more French style of writing.There are four surviving settings of the Te Deum byCharpentier, out of a probable six, at the least. The canticle was of practicaluse on various occasions in the celebration of major triumphs for the King,whether military or personal. The Te Deum, H146, was written for the Jesuitchurch and has been conjecturally dated to 1692. It has won a certain modernpopularity through the use of the opening prelude as a signature-tune, butdeserves its relative fa