Working for the Jesuits

Donald Macleod explores Marc-Antoine Charpentier's decade working for the Jesuits, whose enormous wealth supported the creation of some ambitious large scale dramatic works, a raft of sacred works, among them quite possibly the much loved Te Deum in D major.

It's just a case of bad timing for Marc-Antoine Charpentier that he happened to be born a decade or so after Jean-Baptiste Lully. The manipulative king's favourite held a monopoly at the Sun King's court and in the theatres. Even after his death in 1687, Charpentier had to contend with back-biting from Lully's vociferous supporters. Happily Charpentier also possessed a big reputation and a band of loyal and well-to-do supporters. In a career spanning 35 years, he enjoyed a succession of plum jobs, writing in every kind of genre for some of the most influential patrons and establishments in Paris. Indeed, perhaps Lully's restrictive practices were inadvertently his making, affording Charpentier the kind of artistic freedom to write exactly what he wanted.

In 1688 Charpentier accepted the position of music master of the church of the Jesuit College. A generous salary and resources encouraged Charpentier to stay there for the next ten years, producing music for all occasions, pretty much on demand. Donald Macleod presents the poignant centrepiece of Charpentier's ground-breaking new style of music drama, David and Jonathan, and a complete performance of his brilliant Te Deum in the buoyant key of D.

David et Jonathas (excerpts):
Marche triomphante from Act 1; Prelude and scenes from Act 4
Gérard Lesne (countertenor,) David
Monique Zanetti (soprano), Jonathan
Les Arts Florissants
William Christie, director

Third Tenebrae Lesson for Good Friday, H 137
Kai Wessel, countertenor
Christoph Prégardien, tenor
Peter Kooy, bass
Dominique Visse, countertenor
Harry van Berne, tenor
Klaus Mertens, bass
The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra
Ton Koopman, conductor

Te Deum, H.146
Annick Massus, soprano
Magdalena Kožená, mezzo-soprano
Eric Huchet, high tenor
Patrick Henckens, tenor
Russell Smyth, baritone
Jean-Louis Bindi, bass
Choir of Les Musiciens du Louvre
Les Musiciens du Louvre
Marc Minkowski, director.