Christmas polyphonies

In the Christian West, the birth of Jesus is both the founding event and the focal point around which the entire liturgical year is organized. Hence, in the history of music, the Christmas repertoire forms a continent in its own right, enriched by new gems from every era. 

This program, specially conceived for the 2024 edition of “ Christmas at Fontevraud ”, explores the a cappella (solo voice) side of this immense corpus. With a particular focus on Renaissance music from the 16th to the first quarter of the 17th century, Paul Agnew and the singers of Les Arts Florissants invite you on a musical journey across Europe, from England to Hungary, via Germany, Flanders and Italy, alongside composers such as William Byrd, Hieronymus Praetorius, Jocob Handl, Claudio Monteverdi, Thomas Tallis, Luca Marenzio... 

Conceived to be performed in churches, where the voices can resound in all their purity and power without the aid of any instrumental accompaniment, this musical anthology brings together pieces that are, for the most part, rarely performed, and which are here given a completely new interpretation. The perfect combination of Christmas joy and the thrill of discovery!