Lejeune: Motets pour le culte catholique et psaumes protestants

Featuring

Olivier Schneebeli
Les Chantres du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles
Les Pages De La Chapelle
Les Symphonistes De La Chapelle
Claude Le Jeune

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Compositional Technique

The motet Tristitia obsedit me uses the cantus firmus tradition, borrowing the fragment 'In te Domine speravi' from a motet by Lupus Hellinck, which appears episodically like an ostinato.

Composer Biography

Claude Lejeune (c. 1530-1600), the composer, was a member of both the Reformed Church and the French court, reflecting a period of religious tolerance.

Composition History

Lejeune's Magnificat, published posthumously, was likely commissioned for a significant occasion, possibly Henri IV's coronation in February 1594.

Composition History

Many pieces on this recording belong to 'musique mesurée à l'antique,' a fascinating experiment initiated by Jean-Antoine de Baïf's Académie de Poésie et de Musique in 1570.

Compositional Technique

Musique mesurée à l'antique aimed to reunite poetry and music by setting French verse, based on ancient Greek and Latin metric schemes, to homorhythmic music that ensured word intelligibility.

Historical Context

The text for Tristitia obsedit me includes a meditation written by the 'heretic' monk Savonarola shortly before his execution in Florence in 1498.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Lejeune's work shows a 'cohabitation' between Huguenot repertoires in French, such as polyphonic psalms, and Catholic repertoires in Latin, including a Mass, a Magnificat, and motets.