Charpentier: Leçons de ténèbres, Litanies & Magnificat

Featuring

Jonathan Cohen
Stéphane Degout
Samuel Boden
Arcangelo
Marc-Antoine Charpentier

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Composer Biography

Charpentier never secured a position at Louis XIV's court or the Paris Opéra, partly due to his rival Jean-Baptiste Lully.

Composer Biography

Marc-Antoine Charpentier studied in Rome with Giacomo Carissimi at the Jesuit Collegium Germanicum in the late 1660s.

Performer Biography

Samuel Boden, a tenor on this recording, originally trained and worked as a chef before changing his career path to study singing.

Composition History

Charpentier's Litanies de la vierge, H83, was written for Mademoiselle de Guise, a patron whose birthday fell on the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin.

Historical Context

The Tenebrae services, which involve the gradual extinguishing of candles, were popular in 17th and early 18th-century France, with Charpentier composing 53 settings.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Charpentier's compositional style fused mid-century Italian and French styles, a 'diversity' he himself noted in his treatise Règles de composition.

Compositional Technique

Charpentier's Magnificat à 3, H73, uses a descending four-note ostinato (G-F-E flat-D) in the bass, reminiscent of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea.