Couperin : Leçons De Ténèbres

HOLY WEEK François Couperin (1668-1733) Leçons de Ténèbres Wednesday 24 March, 9pm – candlelit concert Chapelle Royale Duration: 1h15 without interval In the mid-17th century, the Leçons de Ténèbres (Lessons of Darkness) became the subject of increasingly popular musical compositions. Michel Lambert was the first in France to compose a cycle in 1662, quickly followed by Charpentier and Lalande. But the most famous – and the first to have regained the honours of recordings and the general public in modern times – are those by François Couperin, dated 1714. At the end of Louis XIV's reign, France was a land of piety, but also of Italianism in music, including religious music. Thus, the emotions composed by Couperin for his singers are so dramatic that one might think them taken from opera... Vocal skill and spirituality are artfully combined, testifying to the refinement of beautiful French singing practised in salons and theatres as well as in places of worship. People flocked to Parisian convents to hear these divine voices intoning the Lessons for the days of Holy Week, the faceless voices of young cloistered nuns, voices from heaven... but often opera singers when theatres were closed during times of penance! Traditionally, candles were extinguished as the Ténèbres service progressed, ending in the darkness of night... The three surviving lessons by François Couperin are written for Holy Wednesday. They represent one of the pinnacles of French sacred art from the early 18th century. Marie Perbost and Sarah Charles, jewels of the young generation of sopranos, resurrect this musical miracle under the direction of Chloé de Guillebon, in the growing night where, one by one, the candles are extinguished...

HOLY WEEK François Couperin (1668-1733)

Leçons de Ténèbres

Wednesday 24 March, 9pm – candlelit concert

Chapelle Royale

Duration: 1h15 without interval

In the mid-17th century, the Leçons de Ténèbres (Lessons of Darkness) became the subject of increasingly popular musical compositions. Michel Lambert was the first in France to compose a cycle in 1662, quickly followed by Charpentier and Lalande. But the most famous – and the first to have regained the honours of recordings and the general public in modern times – are those by François Couperin, dated 1714. At the end of Louis XIV's reign, France was a land of piety, but also of Italianism in music, including religious music. Thus, the emotions composed by Couperin for his singers are so dramatic that one might think them taken from opera...

Vocal skill and spirituality are artfully combined, testifying to the refinement of beautiful French singing practised in salons and theatres as well as in places of worship. People flocked to Parisian convents to hear these divine voices intoning the Lessons for the days of Holy Week, the faceless voices of young cloistered nuns, voices from heaven... but often opera singers when theatres were closed during times of penance! Traditionally, candles were extinguished as the Ténèbres service progressed, ending in the darkness of night...

The three surviving lessons by François Couperin are written for Holy Wednesday. They represent one of the pinnacles of French sacred art from the early 18th century. Marie Perbost and Sarah Charles, jewels of the young generation of sopranos, resurrect this musical miracle under the direction of Chloé de Guillebon, in the growing night where, one by one, the candles are extinguished...