Charpentier, O Dieu, que n’étois-je en vie;
Messe de Minuit pour Noël (Sanctus)

I had planned to feature Charpentier’s La Messe de Minuit pour Noël (Midnight Mass for Christmas) last week during the Christmas season, but we decided it was important to say something about the tragic loss of the Red Army Chorus. So Charpentier comes up today on Epiphany instead of day 6 of Christmas.

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1634-1704) is perhaps remember best for his sacred choral works, most notably the Te Deum written c. 1690 near the time of La Messe de Minuit. He held a series of church positions and the final post of maître de musique of the Sainte-Chapelle. He had earlier been appointed composer to the Dauphin, Louis XIV’s son, and received Royal commissions from Louis XIV. But musical life in Louis XIV’s court was dominated by Charpentier’s rival, Jean-Baptiste Lully.

The Messe de Minuit is built around eleven Noëls. Noël comes from the Old French word for the Christmas Season (nael). As a musical term, Noël refers to a non-liturgical song of popular character with a strophic or verse form—much as we might think of Christmas carols today.

We used the Sanctus of this Mass in our Discovering Music course as an example of the French Baroque style. But we have the opportunity now to make a side-by-side presentation of the Sanctus along with the original Noël on which it is based.

Both are performed by Quire Cleveland, which has been featured in this series in the past. Their full performance includes all eleven Noëls paired with the corresponding movement of the Mass.