Te Deum (Charpentier)
The Te Deum by Marc-Antoine Charpentier in D major ( H. 146) is the most famous work of the French composer. It is a grand motet , a special form of motet for solos, choir and orchestra that was developed at the court of Louis XIV . Charpentier composed this Te Deum towards the end of the 17th century when he was Kapellmeister at the Saint-Louis church in Paris, probably to celebrate the Battle of Steenkerke on August 3, 1692, or on the occasion of the Treaty of Turin 1696.
Charpentier probably set the text of the Te Deum to music six times. Four compositions have been preserved, apart from H. 146 these are H. 145 for eight voices as well as H. 147 and H. 148, each for four voices. H. 146 is, however, Charpentier's only Te Deum with timpani and trumpets. It owes its fame to the fact that the first eight bars of the prelude are used as the signature melody of the Eurovision .
Work description
In his key characteristic "Énergie des modes" Charpentier defines the key of D major as "happy and very warlike". Johann Mattheson , a contemporary of Bach, describes in his music-theoretical work "The newly opened Orchester" in D major as "the most comfortable for making noise, funny, warlike and encouraging."
The work comprises the following sections:
- Te Deum laudamus (bass solo)
- Te aeternum Patrem (soloists: 2 sopranos, alto, tenor, with choir)
- Pleni sunt coeli et terra (choir)
- Te per orbem terrarum (trio: alto, tenor, bass)
- Tu devicto mortis aculeo (bass solo and choir)
- Te ergo quaesumus (soprano solo)
- Aeterna fac cum sanctis tuis (choir)
- Dignare, Domine (duet: soprano and bass)
- Fiat misericordia tua (trio: 2 sopranos, bass)
- In te, domine, speravi (trio: alto, tenor, bass, with choir)
Instrumentation: four-part choir ( SATB ) with solo assignments for 5 soloists (SSATB), 2 flutes (this probably means treble recorders ), 2 oboes , trumpet , low trumpet, timpani , 2 violins , 2 violas ("Haute-contres de violon" and " Tailles de violon ”), and basso continuo .
The bass part bears the name “organ, basses de violon and bassoons” in the autograph score. The basse de violon is a deep string instrument similar to the violoncello .
The low trumpet plays colla parte with the timpani and the voice is limited to the notes d ′ and a.
Impact history
This Te Deum was rediscovered in 1953 by the musicologist Carl de Nys , who recorded a long-playing record with a youth choir and the Pasdeloup Chamber Orchestra in the same year . The first eight bars of the instrumental introduction were chosen as the signature tune for the European Broadcasting Union in 1954 . They were heard for decades at the beginning of the Eurovision Song Contest and from Spiel ohne Grenzen , so the work has remained known to this day.
The prelude also served as background music on other occasions:
- in the series "The Olympiad" by Bud Greenspan
- in the coronation scene of the film Richard III.
- in an episode of the Outlander series filmed at the Palace of Versailles
- in the songs United by Drafi Deutscher and Kun rakkaus voittaa ("When love wins") by Fredi .
literature
- Catherine Cessac (Ed.): Les manuscrits autographes de Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Foreword by Hugh Wiley Hitchcock . Editions Mardaga, 2007. Partial online view
Web links
- Te Deum (Marc-Antoine-Charpentier), H.146 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
Individual evidence
- ↑ BR Classic
- ↑ War and Peace 1614-1714
- ↑ Description of the work Bärenreiter
- ^ Henri de Villiers: Marc-Antoine Charpentier: tableau des énergies des modes (French) , accessed May 19, 2020.
- ^ Johann Mattheson: The newly opened orchestra . Hamburg 1713, p. 242, koelnklavier.de , accessed April 3, 2020.