Clérambault: Te Deum & Histoire de la femme adultère

Featuring

Guy Cutting
Gwendoline Blondeel
Lisandro Abadie
Reinoud Van Mechelen
Samuel Namotte
A Nocte Temporis

Chœur de chambre de Namur
Louis-Nicolas Clérambault

Did you know?

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Performer Biography

Reinoud Van Mechelen, the director of a nocte temporis, won the prestigious Caecilia Prize for 'Young Musician of the Year' in 2017, awarded by the Union of Belgian Music Press.

Composer Biography

Clérambault was renowned in his time for his many cantatas, earning him the title 'the cantor of Thrace' after his first collection, which included Orphée, was published in 1710.

Composition History

Clérambault's Te Deum à grand chœur is one of his most sumptuous religious pieces, drawing inspiration from an earlier composition, the Te Deum à trois parties.

Composition History

L'Histoire de la femme adultère (The Story of the Adulterous Woman) is an isolated work in Clérambault's output and French music of the early 18th century, described as an 'oratorio' by Sébastien de Brossard, who owned the manuscript.

Historical Context

Clérambault's Te Deum à grand chœur was very likely performed on July 7, 1745, during the lavish celebrations for the completion of the Saint-Sulpice church in Paris.

Compositional Technique

The Te Deum, a hymn dating back to the Middle Ages, features a text of twenty-nine short verses, which Clérambault distributes freely, varying his writing to include complex counterpoint and introspective passages.