Charpentier: Grands Motets

Schneebeli, Olivier;
Musica Florea;
Les Pages & Les Chantres du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles

K 617171

In the 1660s Marc-Antoine Charpentier stayed in Rome. The original aim of the three-year stay was to learn the profession of painter. However, the highly talented young man soon fell under the spell of music. The churches sounded like motets with many choirs, which cleverly exploited all the acoustic possibilities of the wide halls. Sacred compositions, which in their drama almost resembled operas, were performed in secular prayer halls, the oratorios. There they had been banished by the spiritual authorities, who feared that these works had too great an affinity with the sinful theatre business. Flight, the new genre of sacred music took the name of his place of performance: The oratorio was born. Giacomo Carissimi and his great oratorical compositions particularly impressed the young man; throughout his life Charpentier revered his Roman teacher as a formative role model

Upon returning to his native France, Marc-Antoine Charpentier became a protagonist of the fusion of Italian and French styles. His magnificent double-choir motets are as much a testimony to his artistry as to the dramatic forcefulness of his music. It impressed even Louis XIV, although Charpentier was denied a position at the court of the Sun King, as Jean-Baptiste Lully ruled there as the absolute ruler of music and successfully prevented the employment of musicians of equal rank.

CD

Muzyka klasyczna

K617

07-01-2015

3383510001710