William Christie, Christophe Rousset Couperin: L'apotheose de Lulli

C'est le temps où la France de l'Age Classique n'en finissait pas d'opposer le style italien - personnifié alors par le grand virtuose et compositeur Corelli - au style français, associé comme on le sait à Lully, dont le nom n'avait pourtant de français que ce "y" final ! Mais François Couperin ne prit jamais parti, tant ces deux "goûts" lui paraissaient d'égale valeur : c'est ainsi qu'il rendit dans un premier temps hommage à Corelli, à travers cette grande sonade (sic) conçue comme une apothéose. Un an plus tard, L'Apothéose "composée à la mémoire immortelle de l'incomparable Monsieur" de Lully lui offrira un contrepoint fameux, tout à la gloire de la musique française…

This manuscript, from Christophe Rousset's private collection, was discovered by him in 2004. Dedicated to a Madame de Théobon, it contains not only the essential French harpsichord pieces of the late seventeenth century, but also many transcriptions of compositions by Lully and several hitherto completely unknown preludes. Providing precious insight into the art of the harpsichordist and the musical practices of that time, these pieces are recorded here for the first time. With it's powerful but still austere sound, the Nicolas Dumont harpsichord of 1704 does them full justice.

The comedy in two acts, to a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, is based on one of Carlo Goldoni's best-known and most amusing French comedies, Le bourru bienfaisant. The opera premiered with triumphant success on January 4, 1786 at the Vienna Burgtheater. Mozart liked the work so much that he composed two “substitute arias” for it, both of which found their way into this Teatro Real de Madrid production. The director Irina Brook, daughter of the well-known English director Peter Brook, made her debut at the Teatro Real with this production. She brings the plot to our time, mixing several styles and eras, which, together with Soler's light, cheerful music, makes the work really amusing evening entertainment.

The opera opened in 1786, the same year as Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro , and both were revived in Vienna three years later. In the revival of Il bubero di buon cuore , since Martín y Soler was then in the court of Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg, Mozart wrote two new arias for Madama Lucilla. “Chi sa qual sia l’affano” and “Vado, ma dove, o Dei?,” which are beautifully sung on this recording by Véronique Gens, the first aria on CD 1, track 18, and the second on CD 2, track 4.

The artistic director of the ‘Concert Spirituel’ from 1752 to 1762, Mondonville was one of the most fashionable composers in Paris due to his ‘grands motets’. However, it was in the field of chamber music that he was a real innovator. In creating the sonata for harpsichord with violin accompaniment, he paved the way for a form soon to be raised to sublime heights by Mozart and Beethoven. By giving the harpsichord accompaniment to the human voice Mondonville carried the experiments to its utmost limits.

Called the Latin Lully"(whose worthy successor he was for 43 years under Louis XIV and Louis XV), Delalande took the "grand motet" practised at Versailles to the peak of its glory and its popularity. The Te Deum of 1684 is the epitome of his achievement in the genre, and it was organised, composed, and performed with the care reserved for true masterpieces. The listener will be equally astonished by the manner in which Delalande sets the words of Psalms 110 (111) and 137, whose emotional impact goes far beyond the conventions of the genre.

In his Second Book of harpsichord pieces, Couperin moves away from the suite form based on a collection of dance movements, to a new conception consisting of a collection of miniatures with fanciful nicknames, some of which are clear, and some of which remain a mystery to this day. Couperin loved the harpsichord–he wrote one of the definitive instructional manuals for the instrument–and this set also includes the eight Preludes that he included in his L'Art de toucher le clavecin. At the time these discs were first issued, it was clear that Christophe Rousset's survey of Couperin's complete keyboard works was setting new standards in this music. His playing is simply magnificent.

It figures that the ensemble most responsible for the French Baroque revival is the one to outdo Nelson and Kirkby's legendary recording of these lamentation settings. Sophie Daneman and Patricia Petibon don't have the earlier pair's gorgeous, distinctive voices (both occasionally wobble above the staff), but they sound plenty beautiful. More importantly, they've managed to make these major-key pieces sound like lamentations. Twenty years ago, Kirkby and Nelson were pioneers: merely singing with their white tone was risky; they couldn't take many chances with rhythmic freedom.

Written at the request of Louis XIV in honour of his sisterin- law, Henrietta of England, Le Ballet royal de la naissance de Vénus was performed in 1665 with Henrietta herself as the goddess of love and youth. In twelve entrées, this grandiose spectacle, combining dancing, music and poetry, served the power of the king, while attesting to the magnificence of his court. Musically very inventive, it shows the culmination of the ballet genre, on which Lully was to draw in creating the tragédie en musique. To complete the programme, excerpts from Les Amours déguisés (Armida’s famous lament “Ah! Rinaldo, e dove sei?”), Psyché, Le Bourgeois gentil homme and Le Carnaval - from the latter, a piece recycled from Les Noces de village, a burlesque aria sung by the boastful village schoolmaster Barbacola, a basso buffo role that Lully wrote for himself.