The few years he spent in Italy in his youth left a lasting impression on Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s sensitivity. In the Rome of 1665, one could hear music that was demonstrative, colorful and profound. For more than a century, Italian musicians had been happily cultivating the art of polychorality: several choirs, singers and/or instruments, interacting with each other, generally spread over several spaces. In France, examples of polychorality are very rare. Charpentier adds to this French exception by composing a sixteen-part mass in which he uses all the possible combinations offered by this staff. He adds to it, a rarity at the time, two diagrams explaining the possible options of spatialization. Was it ever played during his lifetime? If so, we do not know today in what exceptional setting this mass would have been performed.

​

Sébastien Daucé, Music Director 

Sainte-Chapelle