Charpentier | "The Victories of Louis XIV"
Saison
2025/2026
The singers of the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles join forces with Hervé Niquet and Le Concert Spirituel in a major collaboration featuring Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s works for double choir and double orchestra, some of the most striking pieces in the Baroque repertoire.
Distribution
Hervé Niquet conductor
Fanny Valentin*, Marie Zaccarini* soprano
David Tricou, Anders Dahlin haute-contre
Antoine Ageorges*, Baptiste Bonfante* tenor
Olivier Bergeron, Thierry Cartier* bass-baritone
*Members of the Opéra Royal Academy
Choir and Orchestra Le Concert Spirituel
Les Chantres du Centre de musique baroque de Versailles (Fabien Armengaud, artistic direction)
Program
Te Deum H.145
Quare fremuerunt H.168
Exaudiat H.162
Canticum pro pace H.392
Domine salvum fac regem H.283
Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)
Production
Co-produced by the Opéra Royal / Château de Versailles Spectacles, Le Concert Spirituel, and the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles. Scores published by the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles. This program is recorded on CD for the Château de Versailles Spectacles label.
Duration
1h15
no intermission
Photo credit
Additional information
This opening program immerses us in the splendor of the great Parisian ceremonies of the 17thth century, where music magnified both faith and the royal figure. Although he never held an official court position, Marc-Antoine Charpentier was the preferred composer for powerful religious congregations based in the capital, such as the Jesuits and the Theatines, who combined fervor and pageantry to celebrate both God and the King.
Alongside the Te Deum H.145 and theExaudiat H.162, monumental frescoes blending divine praise and royal exaltation, composed around 1672 and revised in 1677 during the Franco-Dutch War, then again in 1687 to mark the recovery of Louis XIV, will ring out on Canticum pro pace H.392. Halfway between a motet and a sacred history, this piece, written around 1676—perhaps to celebrate a French victory during the Franco-Dutch War—expresses a yearning for peace, echoing the negotiations that began in Nijmegen in June 1676 and concluded in 1678. The program will conclude with the Domine salvum fac regem H.283, a solemn prayer addressed to God for the protection of the King.
Vibrant music blending spiritual intensity with royal majesty, magnified by the power of the forces and the highly Roman writing style, featuring a double choir and double orchestra.