Les Arts Florissants

William Christie triumphs; nobody does French Baroque with an Italian accent better and with his ensemble Les Arts Flos, he has made some of the finest recordings of French baroque music, including these French cantatas by André Campra (1660-1744). Campra is usually regarded as the most important French composer between Lully and Rameau and a transitional figure in French opera. Curiously, many of the musicans of Les Arts Florissants back in 1986 were American or British: violinist John Holloway, flautist Robert Claire, theorbist Stephen Stubbs, and the superlative American soprano Jill Feldman. However, to hear quintessential French vocal technique, listen to Dominique Visse singing the cantata 'La Dispute de l'Amour et de l'Hymen.' Jean-François Gardeil, the baritone on this CD, also contributes a pure French inflection to the performance. Recorded in 1986, in Arles.

Caroline of Ansbach, [actually Wilhelmina Charlotte Caroline von Brandenburg-Ansbach] wife of King George II, remarkably beautiful patron of the arts and sciences, considered Handel an esteemed confidant. It was in Hanover that Caroline first encountered Handel, actively encouraging his appointment as Kapellmeister there in 1710, and it was apparently at her behest that he composed five of his Italian chamber duets. With the accession of the elector as George I in 1714, Caroline became Princess of Wales and on his death, in 1727, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, consort of King George II.

With William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, relive Christmas Eve as it was celebrated in the France of Louis IV.

"Jephte" was Monteclair's second and final stage work, a lyric tragedy written when he was 65 and apparently the first Biblical opera produced in France since the mystery plays. The influences on Rameau's stage works music are readily apparent: the canny use of orchestral color for dramatic purposes, vivid musical characterization, infectiously lively dance music, and, above all, inspired and stirring choral writing.