Charpentier: Vêpres pour Saint Louis (Alpha Collection)

Featuring

Frédéric Desenclos
Olivier Schneebeli
Hervé Lamy
Robert Getchell
Alain Buet
Béatrice Gobin

Alexis Galli
Stéphane Ung
Arnaud Raffarin
Pages et Chantres de la Chapelle
Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers
Marc-Antoine Charpentier

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Recording & Production

This recording is part of a collaboration between Alpha Classics and the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles to promote French musical heritage of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Charpentier aimed to create dramatic effects by emphasizing contrasts in the text and infusing emotions with expressive touches, a common practice in the Baroque period.

Compositional Technique

Marc-Antoine Charpentier, the composer, used various styles in his psalm settings, including responsorial writing between soloists and chorus, and characterization of verses by different vocal scorings.

Composition History

The program for this album was created to celebrate the feast of St Louis, which falls on August 25th, honoring both the Saint King and the Sun King, Louis XIV.

Historical Context

The text 'Domine salvum fac', taken from Psalm 19, was used to conclude services since the reign of Louis XIII, serving as both an address to God and praise for the King of France.

Cultural Impact

The motet In honorem Sancti Ludovici, dedicated to St Louis, concludes with repeated cries of 'Ludovicus triumphet, Ludovicus regnet, Ludovicus vivat', which appear to be intended for King Louis XIV.

Composition History

At its premiere in the early 1690s, Charpentier's antiphon Domine quinque talenta was sung by a French male soprano and two Italian castrati, as French audiences accepted 'unnatural' voices if they were foreign.