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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)

Composer of the Week: Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704): Episode 2: The House of Guise

Episode 2

Episode 2: The House of Guise

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)

The House of Guise

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704), The House of Guise

Exploring Marc-Antoine Charpentier's sacred and secular music written for Mlle de Guise.

Donald Macleod considers the many pieces Marc-Antoine Charpentier wrote for his illustrious patron, Mlle de Guise, from theatrical entertainments to the most moving sacred texts.

Donald Macleod explores the treasury of pieces Marc-Antoine Charpentier wrote for his illustrious patron, Mlle de Guise, from theatrical entertainments to the most moving sacred texts.

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. 

For 18 years, Marc-Antoine Charpentier lived and worked in the Hôtel de Guise, the palatial Parisian residence of Marie de Lorraine, the Duchesse de Guise. Generally known as Mademoiselle de Guise, she was a very well connected aristocrat - a first cousin of Louis XIV. Donald Macleod presents complete performances of the touching Hymn to the Blessed Virgin Mary, probably written for Mlle de Guise's visit to a popular pilgrimage site, Notre-Dame de Liesse, near the northern French city of Laon, contrasts with a splendid motet written for her nephew's funeral and the lively instrumental Sonata in 8 Parts, the first French chamber music to be called a Sonata.

La Couronne de Fleurs (excerpts) 
Teresa Watkin (soprano), Flore
Jesse Blumberg (baritone), Pan/Un Berger
Amanda Forsythe (soprano), Roselie
Dorothee Mields (soprano), Amaranthe
Mireille Lebel (mezzo-soprano), Hyacinthe 
Jason McStoots (tenor), Forestan 
Zachary Wilder (tenor), Mirtil 
Douglas Williams (bass-baritone), Sylvandre 
Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra 
Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs, Music Directors 

Motet pour les trépassés, H311
Ensemble Vocal de l'Abbaye aux Dames de Saints
Les Menus Plaisirs 
Michel Laplénie, conductor 

Sonate a huit, H548
London Baroque: 
Stephen Preston, Lisa Beznosiuk, transverse flutes
Ingrid Seifert, Richard Gwilt, violins
William Hunt, bass viol
Nigel North, theorbo
John Toll, harpsichord 
Charles Medlam, director 

Canticum in honorem beata virginis Mariae 
Le Concert des Nations
Jordi Savall, director.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier

Donald Macleod explores the music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier. In a 35-year career, he had prestigious jobs, writing in every genre for some of the most influential patrons and establishments in Paris

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Composer of the Week

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)

Episode 2: The House of Guise

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