Charpentier: Messe de Minuit

01 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ I. Kyrie_ No. 1, Kyrie I
02 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ I. Kyrie_ No. 2, Kyrie II
03 – No?ls sur les instruments, H. 534 _ No. 3, Joseph est bien marié
04 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ I. Kyrie_ No. 3, Christe
05 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ I. Kyrie_ No. 4, Christe II – Kyrie
06 – No?ls sur les instruments, H. 534_ No. 6, Une jeune pucelle
07 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ II. Gloria_ No. 1, Gloria in excelsis Deo
08 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ II. Gloria_ No. 2, Et in terra pax
09 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ II. Gloria_ No. 3, Quoniam tu solus Sanctus
10 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ II. Gloria_ No. 4, Amen
11 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ III. Credo_ No. 1, Credo in unum Deum
12 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ III. Credo_ No. 2, Patrem omnipotentem
13 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ III. Credo_ No. 3, Crucifixus
14 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ III. Credo_ No. 4, Et ascendit
15 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ III. Credo_ No. 5, Et in Spritum sanctum Dominum
16 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ III. Credo_ No. 6, Et Unam Sanctam Catholicam
17 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ III. Credo_ No. 7, Et vitam venturi saeculi
18 – No?ls sur les instruments, H. 531_ No. 2, Laissez pa?tre vos bêtes
19 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ IV. Sanctus
20 – Messe de minuit pour No?l, H. 9_ V. Agnus Dei
21 – Troisième Livre d’Orgue_ Où s’en vont ces gays Bergers
22 – Chantons je vous en prie
23 – Dialogus inter angelos et pastores Jude? In Nativitatem Domini, H. 420_ I. Usquequo avertis faciem
24 – Dialogus inter angelos et pastores Jude? In Nativitatem Domini, H. 420_ II. Nuit
25 – Dialogus inter angelos et pastores Jude? In Nativitatem Domini, H. 420_ III. Réveil des bergers
26 – Dialogus inter angelos et pastores Jude? In Nativitatem Domini, H. 420_ IV. Nolite timere pastores
27 – Dialogus inter angelos et pastores Jude? In Nativitatem Domini, H. 420_ V. Marche des bergers
28 – Dialogus inter angelos et pastores Jude? In Nativitatem Domini, H. 420_ VI. O infans O Deus
29 – Dialogus inter angelos et pastores Jude? In Nativitatem Domini, H. 420_ VII. Chanson des bergers
30 – No?ls sur les instruments, H. 534_ No. 1, Les bourgeois de Chatre
31 – No?ls sur les instruments, H. 534_ No. 2, Où s’en vont ces gais bergers
32 – No?ls sur les instruments, H. 534_ No. 5, à la venue de No?l
33 – No?ls sur les instruments, H. 534_ No. 4, Or nous dites Marie
34 – Dixit Dominus, H. 202_ I. Prélude
35 – Dixit Dominus, H. 202_ II. Dixit Dominus
36 – Dixit Dominus, H. 202_ III. Virgam virtutis tuae
37 – Dixit Dominus, H. 202_ IV. Tecum principium in die
38 – Dixit Dominus, H. 202_ V. Dominus, Dominus
39 – No?ls sur les instruments H. 531_ No. 1, ? Createur

Few Christmas works have worked their way into the affections of music lovers to a greater degree than Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit. One of many sacred works composed by Charpentier while in the service of the Jesuits (1689-1698), the exact date of its composition is unknown; the composer’s biographer Catherine Cessac has suggested Christmas 1693 or 4 as likely possibility. Scored in four parts – soprano, alto, tenor and bass plus a string orchestra and organ, it resembles the idea of the ‘parody’ mass familiar in Renaissance sacred music but well out of fashion by Charpentier’s time. But unlike the ‘parody’ form it uses not one theme, but no fewer than eleven drawn from old French carols, employed by Charpentier with great skill and the addition of nothing more than a modest degree of ornamentation that allows them to retain their naive charm. ‘Joseph est bien marié’, for example, to which the opening ‘Kyrie’ is set, has a delightfully catchy tune that instantly draws the listener into the joyous spirit of Christmastide. It is also aggravatingly insidious and I hope other listeners have better luck getting it out of their head than I did! It was a good idea to include a number of the orchestral arrangements of these carols that Charpentier made several years prior to the Mass and which were collected in two groups, catalogued as H. 531 and H.534 respectively. The new recording was made in the wonderful acoustic of the Chapelle Royal at the palace of Versailles and is as idiomatic and as outstandingly performed as one would expect from Gaétan Jarry and his accomplished performers, among them a quartet of first-rate soloists (Caroline Arnaud soprano, Romain Champion haute-contre, Mathias Vidal tenor and David Witczak bass).