Charpentier: Les plaisirs de Versailles (1/3) - Christie

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• Charpentier: Les plais...
Les plaisirs de Versailles, H 480,
little opera in one act
Libretto: Anonymous
Music: Marc-Antoine Charpentier
First performance: 1682, in the Château de Versailles (salon d'Apollon)?
In this recording:
La Musique: Sophie Daneman, soprano
La Conversation: Katalin Károlyi, mezzo-soprano
Le Jeu: Steve Dugardin, countertenor
Comus: Jean-François Gardeil, baritone
Un Plaisir: François Piolino, tenor
Patricia Petibon, Monique Zanetti, sopranos
Fernand Bernadi, baritone
Les Arts Florissants,
conducted by William Christie
Musicians:
Serge Saïta, flute, piccolo
Sébastien Marq, bass flute
Simon Heyerick, Isabel Serrano, violins
Kaori Uemura, bass viol
Elizabeth Kenny, theorbo, guitar
William Christie, harpsichord, organ
Recorded on 20-23 May 1995
"In an annotated list of the manuscripts that Charpentier bequeathed to him, the composer's nephew claimed that Les Plaisirs de Versailles was a "pièce pour les appartements du Roi" - for those evening entertainments at the royal château hosted by the King and called generically "the apartments". Possibly so. The king is addressed directly at the very end of the work. [...] And Charpentier's score says, "la scène est dans les app[artements]" - although, of course this alone is no proof that the work was composed expressly for performance at Versailles. The principal characters are, to begin with, La Musique and La Conversation, together with a "Chœur des Plaisirs" (Chorus of Pleasures); later, Comus ("Dieu des festins") and Le Jeu appear. The singing of La Musique is interrupted by La Conversation, who cannot stop prattling. They argue at length and with increasing heat: which of them is more essential to pleasure (especially the King's pleasure)? Fearful that they both will leave the château of Versailles in anger, the Chœur des Plaisirs calls on Comus to mediate. He offers the quarrellers chocolate, fine wine, exquisite pastries. No use. He then pleads for help from Le Jeu, who is equally unsuccessful: La Musique and La Conversation continue their bickering. Finally, however, they are reconciled, and the Chœur des Plaisirs sighs with relief: La Musique and La Conversation [...] can continue to help distract le grand Roi from his martial pursuits.
The most striking thing about this diverting but lightweight "mini-opera", besides its witty and sparkling livret, is the sharpness with which Charpentier portrays each character musically. La Musique is languid, tender, sensuous; La Conversation has to admit that she is a "sociable sirène". La Conversation is a non-stop chatterbox (and something of an idiot: she cannot tell a minuet from a courante) [...]. Comus, a bass, is a gourmand of small sensibility and Falstaffian bluster; Le Jeu, an haute-contre - a high tenor (probably first played by Charpentier himself) - is a wheedling card-sharp."
- H. Wiley Hitchcock

[@jcfs123]

My god what a treasure this is!

[@MrCacafuega]

Absolutely lovely.

[@jmanuelsify]

muy bueno, a valido la pena buscarlo

[@The30YearOldVirgin]

Great sound quality! :)

[@adaalbertinaghilarducci6538]

gracias por tan linda interpretación de este compositor barroco preferido...!! una pena no haber puesto una foto de los músicos...!! está bueno ir siguiendo la partitura, sobre todo para mejor comprensión de la letra cantada, pero falta la foto...!!!

[@axerbad908]

this is music, not Justin Bieber