CHARPENTIER

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643?-1704) was a disciple of Giacomo Carissimi in Rome. On his return to France, following a dispute between the playwright Molière and Lully, Charpentier became the former’s official composer. After the death of Lully, who had virtually monopolised the tragédie lyrique, Charpentier embarked on a career as a theatrical composer. Despite this, one of his best-known works is the Te Deum in D major, famously used as the initial fanfare for European TV broadcasts.

Charpentier avoids Lully’s exaggerated pomposity and colourful ornamentation, and brilliance is combined with introspection in his religious music, including the Te Deum and the motet In nativitatem Domini canticum for four voices and orchestra, written in around 1690 when Charpentier was maître de musique at Saint Louis Church in Paris. The latter, written for a Christmas mass, unites French and Italian music in a splendid narration of Christ’s advent and birth.