La Nébuleuse / Gabriel Rignol

Cast: 9 artists (4 voices - 2 violins - 1 bass viol - organ and/or harpsichord - theorbo)

A veritable jewel of the French Baroque repertoire, these motets by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, which the ensemble La Nébuleuse has chosen to recreate in this programme, are ‘small’ only in terms of their number - four singers and two violins, supported by the continuo - which was very common in Europe at the time: In Germany, in the early cantatas of J.S. Bach; in England, Purcell's Dido & Aeneas; and of course in Italy, with Scarlatti and Vivaldi, for example. In France, on the other hand, since the centralisation of the arts at Versailles under the reign of Louis XIV, the Chapelle Royale has for some decades been known for its typical five-part writing: dessus, haute-contre, taille, basse-taille, basse; here Charpentier once again sets himself apart from his compatriots. Very rarely performed at present, these pieces are nevertheless strikingly rich in structure and harmony: between symphonies, narratives, arias and choruses, the abundance of Charpentier's writing sublimates the fairly simple staff, sometimes even giving us the impression of writing in double chorus ‘by moving the voices two by two’*.

This programme features some little-known works: the ‘Motet pendant la Guerre’ Quare Fremuerunt Gentes (H.363), whose opening symphony and final fugue trumpet its French origins, followed by the much calmer Memorare o piissima Virgo Maria (H.367), written to a prayer to the Virgin of Saint-Bernard de Clairvaux and also featuring a final fugue. The Nisi Dominus H.150 is part of a set of psalms composed in the 1670s for Vespers, and has a rather Italian flavour* that enhances the apparent structural simplicity of this motet, which has no instrumental symphony and is based on alternating choruses and solos according to the verses. Finally, the De Profundis H.156 sets Psalm 129 to the text of the Requiem Aeternam; it was most probably performed on 11 May 1672 for the funeral of Marguerite de Lorraine, Dowager Duchess of Orléans, mother of Madame de Guise - M.A. Charpentier's patron.

*Catherine Cessac, Marc-Antoine Charpentier