Couperin - Leçons de Ténèbres

French composer François Couperin's Leçons de Ténèbres for one and two voices is a work that Les Arts Florissants know inside out, having recorded it and performed it on numerous occasions. 

The pieces are intended for a ceremony commonly known as Ténèbres (sometimes also Lamentations), which is a liturgy specific to Holy Week: the Matins service on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of the week preceding Easter was celebrated in the darkness of night, with the candles being gradually extinguished as day broke during this particularly long vigil. Although the texts differ, these three Matins services are all based on the same structure: a Nocturne beginning with the recitation of a psalm is followed by a “Lesson” taken from the “Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah,” the text of which is punctuated by one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet (Aleph, Beth, Ghimel, Daleth, etc.) sung in dizzying vocalizations. Each of the ‘Lessons’ is followed by a “Response,” a kind of prose poem commenting on the Passion of Christ. etc.) sung in dizzying vocalizations. Each of the “Lessons” is followed by a “Responsory,” a kind of prose poem commenting on the Passion of Christ. 

For convenience, these night services were eventually moved to the previous day so that the faithful could attend. And it was to attract this audience that, from the 16th century onwards, it became customary to compose polyphonic music based on these texts, in which the exaltation of faith seems to merge with a form of heightened sensuality. 

For this new interpretation, William Christie has chosen to collaborate with two exceptional singers, Lucia Martin Carton and Rachel Redmond, both winners of the Jardin des Voix competition—the international academy for young singers of Les Arts Florissants.