Background

Marc Antoine Charpentier was born in 1634 in Paris, France. He came from a family of painters.

Education

Charpentier went to Italy to study painting when a very young man. During a stay in Rome he came under the spell of the famous Italian composer of oratorios Giacomo Carissimi, with whom Charpentier is reputed to have studied. He then changed his allegiance from painting to music and spent several years in Italy perfecting his musical skills.

Career

Charpentier collaborated with the playwright Moliere on comedy-ballets after the latter's break with Jean Baptiste Lully; Charpentier was responsible for the music for La Mariage force (1672) and Le Malade imaginaire (1673). Following Moliere's death in 1673, Charpentier passed through a series of appointments as music teacher and conductor to several aristocratic families. In 1679 he became music master to the Dauphin, only to lose this rich post allegedly because of Lully's opposition. Between 1686 and 1688 Charpentier served in a similar position in the establishment of Mademoiselle de Guise.

After 1684 he was also involved in the musical life of several Jesuit foundations in Paris. His tragedies spirituelles, written to be performed during Lent, brought him considerable fame. In 1698 Charpentier became director of music at Ste-Chapelle, Paris, and in this post he served until his death on February 24, 1704.

While generally acclaimed for his sacred music, Charpentier's masterpiece is acknowledged to be his most successful opera, Medee, based on the drama by Pierre Corneille and mounted in Paris in 1693. Although Medee was lauded as the best dramatic work to be produced in France after Lully's death, Charpentier was not to enjoy a similar success with any of his other operas.

Charpentier's formal, learned style found its best expression in church music. He was particularly acclaimed for his solution to problems involved with musical realizations of Latin prosody. His talent was unsuitable for the exigencies of the music theater, despite his attempts to prove otherwise. Since it would seem he incurred the hostility of the all-powerful Lully, Charpentier did not secure a court appointment and hence passed his life in the service of the aristocracy and the Church.

Achievements

• Marc Antoine Charpentier was mostly recognised as a master of sacred vocal music. His popularity mostly lies upon his opera "Medee. "

Works

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  • Charpentier: Litanies de la Vierge, Motets pour la Maison de Guise

    (The harmonia mundi label, once well known for specializin...)

  • Charpentier: Pastorale de Noel

    (William Christie and Les Arts Florissants recreate Christ...)

  • Marc-Antoine Charpentier: David & Jonathas

    (Quick Shipping !!! New And Sealed !!! This Disc WILL NOT ...)

  • Charpentier: Meditations pour le Careme /Ensemble Pierre Robert * Desenclos

    (Charpentier : Méditations pour le Carême - Pour le St Sac...)

  • Charpentier - Vespres à la Vierge / Le Concert Spirituel · Niquet

    (Le Concert Spirituel - Hervé Niquet, direction)

  • Charpentier: Lecons du Mercredy Sainct
  • Charpentier: Te Deum / Messe de Minuit de Noël
  • Charpentier: Les Antiennes "O" de L'avent ("O" Anthems for Advent), In Nativitatem D.N.J.C. Canticum H 414

Personality

In general, Charpentier was acknowledged to be a learned but talented composer. He was considered by La Cerf de Vieville (1709) to be the superior of any Italian musician, but his music was nonetheless described as very "dry and stilted. "

References

• Music In The Baroque Era - From Monteverdi To Bach