Songs of Joy for Eastertide

"Chants joyeux du temps du Pâques" (Songs of Joy for Eastertide) is the title of a work by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704), a composer who for part of his life served as Music Master for the Jesuits at Louis-le-Grand middle school in Paris. This little-performed work shares its name with this concert programme which showcases a selection of sacred works, all written by Charpentier and designed as a meditation on the passion and resurrection of Christ.

After the “Nuptiae Sacrae”, which celebrates the vital connection between Christ and his church, the “Victimae paschali laudes" is followed by the "Reniement de St Pierre". The crucifixion is represented by the “Stabat Mater” and the hymn “O crus spec unica”. It turns listeners towards the joy of the resurrection – as conceived by our master of French Baroque music – through the encounter between Mary-Magdalene and Jesus in the "Dialogues inters Magdalenam et Jesum" and the "Chants joyeux du temps de Pâques".