Couperin | Leçons de ténèbres
Saison
2023/2024
Leading his Concert Spirituel, Hervé Niquet brings out the haunting sobriety of these soul-soothing works.
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During the Tenebrae service, the Lamentations of Jeremiah, which recount the ruin of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians, were sung for the three Lessons of Holy Wednesday. Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet was sung at the beginning of the Latin verses to honor the acrostic nature of the original text.
Distribution
Le Concert Spirituel, Choir and Orchestra
François Saint-Yves, Organ
Hervé Niquet, Conductor
Program
François COUPERIN (1668-1733)
First Lesson for solo voice
Marc-Antoine CHARPENTIER (1643-1704)
Responsory unus ex disciplis meis H114
Jacques-François LOCHON (1660?-1710?)
Tuere nos mortales (instrumental piece)
François COUPERIN
Second Lesson for one voice
Marc-Antoine CHARPENTIER
Responsory eram quasi agnus innocens H115
Louis CHEIN (1637-1694)
Missa Pro Defunctis - Introit (instrumental piece)
François COUPERIN
Third Lesson for two voices
Marc-Antoine CHARPENTIER
Responsory Una hora non potuistis vigilare Mecum H 116
Michel-Richard DELALANDE (1657-1726)
Miserere
Production
Le Concert Spirituel
Duration
1h15
no intermission
Photo credit
Le Concert Spirituel at the 2017 Rocamadour Festival ©Louis Nespoulous
"There are many very beautiful Lessons (Cavalieri, Michel, Lalande, Charpentier, Zelenka...), but I chose those by Couperin, which are striking for the beauty of their melismas, the extremely fluid flexibility of their harmonies, and the profound simplicity of their tone.
We know from period documents that the highly ornamented vocal part of these Lessons, written for one or two vocal parts and basso continuo, could be sung in unison by a choir of nuns.
At the time, the singers practiced ornamented plainchant daily, and they were capable of performing the highly ornate figures of Couperin's writing together, as a single voice.
This may seem like an impossible feat to achieve today, and yet, with the six singers surrounding me in this program, we decided to take on the challenge.
And, all of a sudden, that was it: the sound, the music, took on an extraordinary scale."
Hervé Niquet
The dates
