Religious Music from Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century France
We begin with Jean-Baptiste Lully’s celebratory grand motet Jubilate Deo, composed in 1660 for the marriage of Louis XIV and Maria Theresa of Spain.
A more intimate mood follows with Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Sola vivebat in antris, a meditative motet dedicated to Mary Magdalene.
The programme concludes with Jean-Philippe Rameau’s grand motet Deus noster refugium, in which we can already hear something of the dramatic flair that would later define his operatic music.
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687)
- Grand motet Jubilate Deo
Performers: Les Épopées, conducted by Stéphane Fuget
(CD: Château de Versailles, CVS059)
Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704)
2. Motet Sola vivebat in antris, H 373
Performers: Ensemble Pierre Robert, conducted by Frédéric Desenclos
(CD: Alpha, No. 138)
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764)
3. Grand motet Deus noster refugium
Performers: Maïlys de Villoutreys and Virginie Thomas (sopranos); Mathias Vidal (countertenor); François Joron and Nicholas Scott (tenors); David Witczak (baritone); Chœur & Orchestre Marguerite Louise, conducted by Gaétan Jarry
(CD: Château de Versailles, CVS052)
Additional track:
Louis Marchand (1669–1732)
4. Fugue
Performer: Frédéric Desenclos (organ)
(CD: Alpha, No. 138)
Image caption: Jean-Baptiste Lully (painting by Paul Mignard, 1639–1691)
