Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Marc-Antoine Charpentier (
1643 -
February 24,
1704) was a
French composer of the
Baroque era.
|
An engraving from the 1682 Almanach Royale thought to be Charpentier. |
He was a prolific and versatile composer, producing music of the highest quality in several genres. His mastery in the composition of sacred vocal music was recognized and acknowledged by his contemporaries.
Charpentier was born in or near
Paris, the son of a master scribe who had very good connections to influential families in the
Parlement of Paris. Marc-Antoine received a very good education, perhaps with the help of the Jesuits, and registered for law school in Paris when he was eighteen. He was in
Rome, probably between
1667 and
1669, and studied with
Giacomo Carissimi. A certain legend claims that Charpentier initially traveled to Rome to study painting before he was discovered by Carissimi. This story is undocumented and possibly untrue. Regardless, he acquired a solid knowledge of the contemporary Italian practice that he brought to France upon his return.
Most likely he worked for Marie de Lorraine, duchesse de Guise on his return to France, as her house composer, until her death in
1688. During this time he composed a considerable quantity of dramatic secular vocal works, as well as Psalm settings,
hymns, a
Magnificat setting, a
mass, and motets, which he called stories and canticum.
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A recently discovered portrait, presumed to be Charpentier in his early years. |
Beginning around
1672, he worked with
Molière, after Molière's falling out with
Jean-Baptiste Lully. During the 1680s Charpentier served as maître de musique at the Jesuits' Paris church of St. Louis. In addition, Charpentier served as the music teacher to Philippe, Duke of Chartres. Charpentier was appointed
maître de musique à la Sainte Chapelle in 1698, a post he held until his death in 1704. One of his most famous compositions during his tenure was the Mass "Assumpta Est Maria" (H.11).
His compositions include
oratorios,
masses,
operas, and numerous smaller pieces that are difficult to categorize. Many of his smaller works for one or two voices and instruments resemble the Italian cantata of the time, and share most features except for the name: Charpentier calls them
air sérieux or
air à boire if they are in French, but
cantata if they are in Italian.
The
prelude to his
Te Deum, H. 146, a
rondeau, is well-known as the signature tune for the
European Broadcasting Union, heard in the opening credits of the
Vienna New Year's Concert and the
Eurovision Song Contest.
Charpentier's compositions were catalogued by
Hugh Wiley Hitchcock in his
Les Oeuvres de Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Catalogue Raisonné, (Paris: Picard, 1982); references to works are often accompanied by their
H (for Hitchcock) number.
Operas
Les Amours d'Acis et Galatée, Lost, 1678?
Les Arts Florissants, H. 487, 1685-6
La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers, H. 488; 1686-7
Le Jugement de Paris, (1690)
Philomele, Lost, 1690
Médée, H. 491; 1693
Biblical tragedies
Celse Martyr, Music lost; P. Bretonneau's libretto published in 1687.
David et Jonathas, H. 490, 1688. (Libretto by P. Bretonneau.)
Pastorales
Petite Pastorale Eglogue de Bergers, H. 479; mid-1670s?
Actéon, H. 481; 1684
Il faut rire et chanter: Dispute de Bergers, H. 484; 1685
La Fête de Ruel, H. 485; 1685
La Couronne de Fleurs, H. 486; 1685
Le Retour de Printemps, Lost.
Cupido Perfido Dentr'al Mio CorPastoraletta
Amor Vince Ogni Cosa, H. 492
Incidental Theater Music
Les Facheux, 1672. Music lost, drama by Moliere.
La Comtesee de'Escarbagnas, H. 494; 1672 (Drama by Moliere.)
Le Médecin malgré lui, music lost, date uncertain. (Drama by Moliere.)
L'Inconnu, music lost; 1675 (Drama by Donneau de Visé and Thomas Corneille.)
Circé, H. 496; 1675. (Drama by Thomas Corneille; divertissements by Donneau de Visé.)
*Overture du prologue de
l'Inconnu, H. 499; 1679?
Andromède, H. 504; 1682 (Drama by Pierre Corneille.)
Vénus et Adonis, H. 507; 1685. (Drama by Donneau de Visé.)
Comédies-Ballet
Le Mariage Forcé (1672)
Le Malade Imaginaire (1672)
Le Sicilien (1679)
Ballets
Polyeucte, H. 498; 1679.
Divertissements
Les Plaisirs de Versailles, H. 480; 1682
Idylle sur le Retour de la Sante du Roi, H. 489; 1686-7
Interludes (Intermèdes)
Le Triomphe des Dames (1676)
La Pierre Philosophale (1681)
Endymion (1681)
Dialogues d'Angélique et de Médor (1685)
Sonatas
Sonates à huitSacred Music
Extremum Dei Judicium (H. 401)
Messe de Minuit pour Noël (H. 9, c. 1690)
Missa Assumpta est Maria (H. 11, 1698-1702)
Litanies de la vierge (H. 83, 1683-1685)
Te Deum (H. 146, c. 1690)
Dixit Dominus (H. 204)
In nativitatem Domini canticum (H. 416)
Noëls (3) (H. 531 c. 1680)
Noëls pour les instruments (H. 534, c. 1690)
Biography
*Cessac, Catherine.
Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Paris: Fayard, 1988.
*Cessac, Catherine.
Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Translated from the French by E. Thomas Glasow. Portland (Oregon): Amadeus Press, 1995.
*Ranum, Patricia.
Portraits Around Marc-Antoine Charpentier [
1]. Baltimore: Dux Femina Facti, 2004. ISBN 0966099737.
Music History and Theory
*Anthony, James R.
French Baroque Music: From Beaujoyeulx to Rameau. Revised and expanded edition. Portland (Oregon): Amadeus Press, 1997.
*Hitchcock, H.W.
Les Oeuvres de Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Catalogue Raisonné. Paris: Picard, 1982.
*Thomas, Downing A.
Aesthetics of Opera in the Ancien Régime, 1647-1785. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press, 2002.
*Tunley, David.
The Eighteenth-Century French Cantata. 2nd edition. Oxford (UK): Clarendon Press Oxford University Press, 1997.
*
Charpentier, musicien du Baroque, a site in memory of the 300th anniversary of the composer's death
*Speculations about the validity of a
recently discovered portrait of M.A. Charpentier
