Calendar - Leçons de Ténèbres

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Leçons de Ténèbres

Ensemble

Les Arts Florissants

Musical Direction and organ

William CHRISTIE

Cast

Rachel REDMOND, dessus
Gwendoline BLONDEEL, dessus

Cyril POULET, basse de violon

Program

François COUPERIN - Première Leçon de Ténèbres à une voix pour le Mercredy / Incipit lamentatio Jeremiæ Prophetæ

Giovanni Battista VITALI - Passacaglia

Domenico GABRIELLI - Ricercar n°3

François COUPERIN - Deuxième Leçon de Ténèbres à une voix pour le Mercredy / Vau, Et egressus est

Domenico GABRIELLI - Ricercar n°7

Domenico GABRIELLI - Sonate pour violoncelle et orgue en Sol Maj

François COUPERIN - Troisième Leçon de Ténèbres à deux voix pour le Mercredi

Covid-19 information : the concert in Fontevraud is unfortunately cancelled.

François Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbres for one and two voices are well known to Les Arts Florissants, who have recorded and performed them on multiple occasions. Created for the liturgy of Holy Week, they were part of a ceremony commonly called ‘Ténèbres’. Indeed, the Matines service was celebrated in the darkness of night, with candles that were gradually extinguished as the new day began to dawn, marking the end of this long wake. Combining breathtaking singing with prose poetry on the Passion of Christ, these sacred scores give rise to polyphonic music in which the exaltation of faith blurs into a form of heightened sensitivity.