California Bach Society: Elevaverunt flumina

Elevaverunt flumina, from Dominus regnavit (Psalm 93)
by Jean-Joseph de Mondonville (1711-1772)
Live in concert on October 16, 2022
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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.

[@tankej]

Magnifique!

[@Jeremie1987]

Superbe musique.