PROGRAM NOTES
In French Baroque music, the grand motet primarily contrasted with the petit motet. The distinction is evident in the name: the grand form was truly grand (big) in proportion, calling for double choirs and massed orchestral forces, whereas the petit form was a chamber genre for one or two solo voices, one or two solo instruments, and basso continuo, typically provided by harpsichord at home or organ in a church. These two French Baroque motet types are very distinct from the medieval motets of Dufay, the Renaissance motets of Lassus, and the German motets of Johann Sebastian Bach. The French motet type was determined by the occasion and venue; whereas the grand motet was cultivated at the Chapelle royale at Versailles, the petit motet could be for private, often domestic devotions. The texts varied also: a grand motet was generally a Latin psalm, hymn, Biblical canticle, or Dies irae; while the petit motet could be shorter Latin verses from a variety of religious sources.
The grand motet also had a set of stylistic conventions in the form of a sequence of independent numbers, much like the choruses, arias, and recitative in Italian Baroque opera. The operatic effect was intended to embellish and reflect the Sun King's splendor.
Although the grand motet was distinct from the early 13th-century motet, aside from the use of Latin text, it also combines secular and sacred elements. By incorporating theatrical elements of French spectacle and concerto elements inherited from Italian music, the French grand motet became the archetypal genre of the Versailles style, the "ne plus ultra of French Baroque music." As a grandiose genre, the grand motet "took on the aspects of a sacred concert right from its inception"; lacking the liturgical significance of the first motets, it served to signify the grandeur associated with the monarchy.
Our program presents three grand motets—each with a unique musical viewpoint. We have a composer with a traditional royal patron (Mondonville), who creates a dramatic work in the full Versailles style. We have a composer who was not beholden to the official royal patronage system (Charpentier), who presents his personal and emotionally rich concept. Finally, we have a “guest artist” (Telemann); enchanted by the grand motet on a visit to Paris, he melded his German and Italian influences into this French form, creating yet another distinctive approach.
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually decided on a career in music. He held important positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of that city's five main churches.
Telemann is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving works. He was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time, and he was compared favorably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who made Telemann the godfather and namesake of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, and to George Frideric Handel, whom Telemann also knew personally. He was known as a kind and gentle man, with a substantial sense of humor.
Ironically, after the Bach revival in the nineteenth century, Telemann's works were judged inferior to Bach's and lacking in deep religious feeling. For example, by 1911, the Encyclopædia Britannica lacked an article about Telemann, and in one of its few mentions of him referred to "the vastly inferior work of lesser composers such as Telemann" in comparison to Handel and Bach. Particularly striking examples of such judgments were produced by noted Bach biographers Philipp Spitta and Albert Schweitzer, who criticized Telemann's cantatas and then praised works they thought were composed by Bach, but which were in fact composed by Telemann. The main criticism turned out to be rather tongue in cheek. “In general,” [another] music historian wrote, “Telemann would have been greater had it not been so easy for him to write so unspeakably much. Polygraphs seldom produce masterpieces.” It was not until the twentieth century that his music was performed again.
How did a German composer come to compose a French grand motet? The prestigious Latin psalm setting Deus judicium tuum (Psalm 71/72) is among the finest from Telemann’s pen. Its composition is associated with the beginning of his eight-month sojourn in Paris in the fall of 1737, during which time he celebrated musical triumphs in the French metropolis. As he himself reported, with no little pride, the piece “was performed twice in three days by almost one hundred selected people in the Concert Spirituel.” (The Concert Spirituel was one of the first public concert series.)
Adhering to the stylistic convention of contrast and operatic writing, three magnificent choral movements frame a richly-colored succession of demanding solo movements. The opening chorus uses contrasting dynamics and tempo changes to produce musical variety while covering very little text—just the opening lines of the psalm. The second section consists of three arias that are quite dramatic: a stately theme for soprano, a firm and resonant bass solo, and then a colorful tenor aria in which the orchestra depicts falling rain and flying sparks. The middle chorus is in triple time and makes interesting use of legato repeated notes in the chorus—a trick that Handel also used in his oratorios. Another operatic sequence follows, ascending from a declamatory bass solo, to a lighter graceful soprano solo, and a rise to a transparent and lyrical soprano duet. The final chorus opens with a stately homophonic section, followed by a double fugue—the first subject takes on the final words, and the second subject provides the reinforcing “Amen.”
Jean-Joseph de Mondonville (1711–1772) was a French violinist and composer. He was a younger contemporary of Jean-Philippe Rameau and enjoyed great success in his day. Pierre-Louis Daquin (son of the composer Louis-Claude Daquin) claimed, "If I couldn't be Rameau, there's no one I would rather be than Mondonville.”
Mondonville was born in Narbonne in Occitania (South France) to an aristocratic family that had fallen on hard times. In 1733, he moved to Paris where he gained the patronage of the king's mistress Madame de Pompadour and won several musical posts, including that of violinist for the Concert Spirituel.
Between 1734 and 1755, Mondonville composed seventeen grands motets, of which only nine have survived. Thanks to his mastery of both orchestral and vocal music, Mondonville brought to the grand motet an intensity of color and a dramatic quality hitherto unknown.
Dominus regnavit (Psalm 93) uses the dramatic text to full effect. The Psalm praises the steadiness of the Throne of God, which existed even before the founding of the earth. The opening chorus establishes this; following this movement is a darkly harmonic trio (TTB) which reinforces the founding of the solid earth and a transparent soprano duet that describes how this was so even before the earth’s beginning. Then we hear a stunning, virtuoso choral movement, describing dramatic rushing rivers and majestic rising seas, and declaring that the power of the Lord is mightier. A quiet, yet dramatic, soprano solo expresses faith in the promises of the Lord, and the work concludes with the chorus singing a dignified Gloria, a spirited Sicut Erat, and an Amen that Handel may well have admired and imitated.
Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704) was exceptionally prolific and versatile, producing compositions of the highest quality in several genres. His mastery in writing sacred vocal music, above all, was recognized and hailed by his contemporaries. What is most striking to modern listeners is probably the transparent emotion expressed in his music, giving it an extraordinarily modern sensibility. He is best known for his noble and often achingly poignant religious works.
Charpentier was born in or near Paris. He received a good education and entered law school in Paris when he was eighteen, but he withdrew after only one semester. He spent several years in Rome, probably between 1667 and 1669, and studied with Giacomo Carissimi. There he acquired a solid knowledge of contemporary Italian musical practice and brought it back to France.
Upon his return to France, Charpentier began working as house composer to Marie de Lorraine, Duchess of Guise, who was known familiarly as "Mlle de Guise." She gave him an apartment in the recently renovated Hôtel de Guise. During his years of service to Mlle de Guise, Charpentier also composed for "Mme de Guise," Louis XIV's first cousin. It was in large part owing to Mme de Guise's protection that the Guise musicians were permitted to perform Charpentier's chamber operas in defiance of the monopoly held by Jean-Baptiste Lully.
Largely because of the great popularity of its prelude, the best known of Charpentier’s motets is the Te Deum in D major, H.146, written as a grand motet for soloists, choir, and instrumental accompaniment—probably between 1688 and 1698, during Charpentier's stay at the Jesuit Church of Saint-Louis in Paris, where he held the position of musical director after Mlle de Guise’s death.
Charpentier considered the key of D major as "bright and very warlike"; indeed, D major was regarded as the "key of glory" in Baroque music. (French Baroque music generally was performed at A392, which would sound like C major to modern ears, accustomed to A440). The instrumental introduction, composed in the form of a rondo, precedes the first verset, led by the bass soloist. The choir and other soloists join gradually. The choir predominates in the first part (verset 1–10) and individual soloists in the second part (verset 11–20. In subsequent versets, (21–25), both soloists and choir alternate, and the final verset is a large-scale fugue written for choir, with a short trio for soloists in the middle.
Wikipedia
George Predota, “From Hero to Zero,” Interlude Web site, Aug 10 2017
Patricia Jennerjohn