Missa, Assumpta est Maria, [H.11]
Kyrie
Gloria
Credo
Sanctus
Agnus Dei
Domine salvum fac regem
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
Many people both in his time and in ours have considered Marc-Antoine Charpentier to be at least the equal of the more famous French court composer Lully. For some, he is the greater composer of the two, but, due in large part to Lully's jealousy, he never held a position at the court of Louis XIV or received the kinds of honors that such a position might bring. During his lifetime, Charpentier was highly respected by connoisseurs, and he rose to important posts outside the court, but his originality and emotional depth were never acknowledged or understood by the influential partisans of Lully. As a result, he fell into almost complete obscurity shortly after his death, and his music was only resurrected in the second half of the twentieth century, as he gradually came to be recognized as one of the great composers of the Baroque era. Only the barest outline of his career has survived, with hardly any information about Charpentier the man -- this compared to the wealth of information and accounts about Lully.
Late in his life, Charpentier wrote an ironic and poignant "funeral oration" for himself, in which he depicts himself as a ghost returned to earth:
I was a musician, considered good by the good musicians and ignorant by the ignorant ones. And since those who scorned me were more numerous than those who praised me, music brought me small honor and great burdens. And just as I at birth brought nothing into this world, thus when I died I took nothing away.
Early in his career, Charpentier spent time in Rome. There he met Carissimi, whose intensely expressive music in the Italian style were a great influence on his own music. By his early 30's, he was serving as music director, as well as haute-contre singer (high tenor) for the important musical establishment of the Duchesse de Guise, the king's niece, where he wrote a great many dramatic and sacred works. During that time, he began also to collaborate with Molière and his company on theatrical works, following Molière's falling out with Lully. But his success and his growing reputation as one of the king's favorites eventually aroused the jealousy of Lully, who managed effectively to keep Charpentier from gaining a position at court and who inspired royal edicts that restricted performances of some of his rival's music. Eventually, six years after Lully's death, Charpentier was able to have his tragedy Medée produced at the Opéra. Some considered it one of the great French operas of the age, but, according to his admirers, a cabal was mounted against the work by Lully's supporters, and it received only a lukewarm reception from the general public and critics. He never wrote another opera. He nonetheless held several important posts outside the court, including that of music director of St. Louis, the main Paris church of the Jesuits, where he wrote religious works and sacred dramas. Finally, in 1698, he rose to one of the most prestigious positions in all of France, music director of Sainte-Chapelle. It was there that he wrote the late masterpiece, the mass Assumpta est Maria.
Assumpta est Maria, composed sometime between 1699 and 1702, is the last and arguably the greatest of Charpentier's twelve masses. Its richly textured, contemplative and often serene music closely and sensitively follows the sense of the text. We do not know the exact occasion for which he wrote it, but the large forces required -- a five-part choir plus orchestra and many solo voices in various combinations -- suggest that it was composed for an important holiday or event. It may well have been performed before nobility, perhaps including the king himself , and given its title, it may have been written for the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (August 15). At the end of his setting of the traditional mass text, Charpentier adds an extra psalm to pray for the health of the king (Domine salvum fac regem). It was not unusual at the time to add such a prayer, but it appears that he also planned to go further and conclude with music for a processional exit. However, the final page, with only a title indicating a procession, has been left blank.
Boston Baroque Performances
Missa, Assumpta est Maria, H.11
March 8 & 9, 2013
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Roberta Anderson, soprano
Brenna Wells, soprano
Emily Bieber, soprano
Sabrina Learman, soprano
Thea Lobo, mezzo-soprano
Owen McIntosh, tenor
Jonas Budris, tenor
Murray Kidd, tenor
Brad Gleim, baritone
Ulysses Thomas, bass
March 6 & 7, 2009
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Roberta Anderson, soprano
Gail Abbey, soprano
Sabrina Learman, soprano
Meredith Hall, soprano
Kristen Watson, soprano
Murray Kidd, tenor
Randy McGee, tenor
Lawrence Wiliford, tenor
Brett Johnson, baritone
Ulysses Thomas, bass