Ensemble Correspondances & Sébastien Daucé – Marc-Antoine Charpentier: La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 54:51 minutes | 543 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: Qobuz | Booklet, Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
Marc-Antoine Charpentier always had an ambiguous relationship with opera. While living in Rome in the late 1660s he had a chance to familiarise himself with this fast-expanding vocal genre. When he returned to Paris, some time around 1670, he was able to witness the creation of the Académie Royale de Musique, followed by the birth of the tragédie en musique, that typically French genre elaborated by Jean-Baptiste Lully over a lengthy period. Although his functions with his new patrons, particularly the Jesuits and the Grand Dauphin, tended to push him in the direction of sacred music, Charpentier was often tempted to write operatic works. Unfortunately, like all his contemporaries, he came up against the hegemony of the jealous Lully, who ensured the doors of the Opéra remained closed to him. It was not until 1693, six years after the Lully’s death, that he finally gained access to that institution; his only tragédie en musique, Médée, was a failure – deemed too dense, too learned. Yet Charpentier’s attraction for musical theatre may be observed throughout his career, in the numerous scores of incidental music, his two biblical tragedies intended for the Jesuit colleges, and above all the divertissements. Charpentier’s divertissements are on a small scale (a few scenes or else short one-act pieces) and conceived for relatively modest forces. Their inspiration is mythological, allegorical or heroic; they mingle light-hearted and dramatic elements. In all these respects, they owe a great deal to the genre of the pastorale en musique, the earliest specimens of which contributed to the rise of French opera. Alongside his motets and histoires sacrées in Latin intended for the devotions of the princess, Charpentier invented for her more secular recreations, small vocal forms sung in French, genuine miniature operas tailor-made for the little company of musicians she maintained at her Parisian town house.
Tracklist
Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643 – 1704)
La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers, H. 488, Premier Acte
1 Ouverture02:02
2 Scène 1: Inventons mille jeux divers 04:46
3 Scène 1: Compagnes fidèles 03:01
4 Scène 1: Soutiens-moi, chère Œnone 01:01
5 Scène 2: Ah ! Bergers, c’en est fait 02:17
6 Scène 2: Entrée de Nymphes et de Bergers désespérés 01:16
7 Scène 2: Lâche amant 00:40
8 Scène 3: Ne tourne point, mon fils 02:05
9 Scène 3: Que d’un frivole espoir 03:46
La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers, H. 488, Second Acte, L’Enfer
10 Scène 1: Affreux tourments 01:14
11 Scène 2: Cessez, cessez fameux coupables 02:04
12 Scène 2: Quelle touchante voix 01:32
13 Scène 2: Je ne refuse point 01:01
14 Scène 2: Il n’est rien aux Enfers 01:20
15 Scène 2: Entrée des Fantômes 01:06
16 Scène 3: Que cherche en mon palais 00:55
17 Scène 3: Je ne viens point ici 02:33
18 Scène 3: Pauvre amant 01:13
19 Scène 3: Eurydice n’est plus 02:24
20 Scène 3: Le destin est contraire 01:31
21 Scène 3: Tu ne la perdras point 02:19
22 Scène 3: Quel charme impérieux 01:29
23 Scène 3: Souviens-toi du larcin 02:52
24 Scène 3: Je cède, je me rends 02:13
25 Scène 4: Vous partez donc 04:52
26 Scène 4: Entrée des Fantômes 03:06
Personnel
Ensemble Correspondances
Sébastien Daucé, direction
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