Sebastien Tellier Copycat

Sébastien de Brossard (1655-1730) is still known today, but for the wrong reason. People no longer know him for his compositions, but for his 'Dictionaire de Musique' from 1703, a work that is still a valuable source of French music from the seventeenth century. Brossard's music enjoyed a considerable popularity at the time. Brossard was also a valued teacher and a large collector: in 1725 he donated a large collection of manuscripts to the Bibliothèque Royale. He added a few works of his own, according to his own words 'because there were still some empty folders'.

Born in Normandy and largely self-taught in musical theory, Sebastien de Brossard (1655-1730) spent most of his career directing cathedral choirs in Strasbourg, Meaux, and other Alsatian cities. Brossard's 'Grands Motets' are plainly in the tradition of Lully, but have less of French elegance and more of German seriousness about them, a quality perhaps suited to Alsatian taste. Brossard has been better known as a musical theorist and as the author of the first musical dictionary in the French language, but his compositions are quite well-crafted and concert-worthy. He ranks, I think, with Delalande, Dumont, Charpentier, and a notch or two below Lully himself and Rameau. Nearly every French Baroque composer worth his salt wrote a Grand Motet on the text of Psalm 125, "In convertendo Dominus captivitatem Sion," and it's quite interesting to compare the various expressions of rejoicing in the Lord's favor.

Like trapped in his antagonism, Man can be considered like a dangerous destroyer as well as a creative genius. Always a question of age, often of temper, and courage sometimes… His carefreeness may be a quality or a flaw. The child’s carefreeness leads to dreams whereas for the adult it is often an omission of priorities. « Toxic Parasites » is both a shout of rebellion and a shout for love for those who crown the world with the beauty it deserves. If the music of Sebastien Texier gives optimism and solemnity, it is because it is rushed and parasited by the intentions of his sidemen.

In 1672, Lully purchased a royal privilege (or license) from Pierre Perrin to establish the Académie Royale de Musique, for the performance of French operas in Paris. Soon thereafter he and his associates pursued a dual course of activity, setting up similar institutions in other French cities, and securing a series of royally granted patents and ordinances to prevent other entrepreneurs from doing the same. Lully also made sure that his were the only operas to be given in effect, securing a national monopoly on operatic music.

French Baroque music has never achieved the general familiarity of its German and Italian cousins, but that's not for any lack of trying on the part of conductor Sébastien Daucé and his Ensemble Correspondances. What you get here is a Pastorale de Noël a fairly short but grand Christmas narrative plus one set of "Antiennes de O," or O Anthems, so called because each one begins with the word "O."

An Italian travel diary. Paris, 1665: a young composer leaves the Saint-Michel district to embark on a journey to Rome. The journey promises to be a long one, its stopovers rich in encounters for Charpentier. On this new recording, Sébastien Daucé invites us on an imaginary recreation of that voyage of initiation, from Cremona (Merula) to Rome (Beretta), by way of Venice (Cavalli) and Bologna (Cazzati). A journey in space, but also in time, through the sources of inspiration of a composer whose future works were to recall the colours of Italy – as the magnificent Mass for four choirs testifies.

Northward ho! Sébastien Daucé and his musicians here make a geographical detour, forsaking England and France in order to explore Lutheran Europe before J. S. Bach. One is struck by the expressive vigour of these finely detailed works, which have retained all their power to fascinate today’s listeners. Merging old and new, the austerely beautiful language of Buxtehude, Schütz and the much more rarely heard Dijkman unexpectedly echoes the music of their contemporary Marc-Antoine Charpentier.

Desmarest was something of a frustrated genius. A precocious musician, he had a great career on opera from 1693 to 1698. His destiny was broken when he kidnapped the love of his life and fled to Brussels to escape a death sentence. Kapellmeister to the King of Spain, Philippe V in 1701, then to the Duke of Lorraine, Paris remained off-limits to him until 1720 … Circé (1694) was his apotheosis, meeting of Ulysses and the sorcerers, a superb and supernatural heroine. The dramatic force of the work stimulates the flamboyant Véronique Gens who plays the evil lover!

Brossard did not have much formal training but was, nevertheless, a composer, theorist and lute player. He was a priest at Notre Dame and composed a number of sacred works, notably motets, oratorios, masses, and cantatas. (Prior to this he had composed a number of chansons and airs as well.) He wrote a number of treatises and collected many works that originated outside of France. Some of the publications by Brossard included dictionaries, collections, and catalogues. Characteristics of his music were extensive crescendos in a single vocal piece, initiation of the violin sonata in France, and harmonies that can only be considered ordinary.