If Bach had written only the Mass in B minor, he would be considered the leading composer of sacred music in the Baroque period. Composed between 1733 and 1749, on the eve of his death, this Great Mass is a musical testament for posterity: the most accomplished synthesis of the aesthetics that Bach mastered to perfection, but also an anthology of his sacred work, with it's perfectly mastered architecture. John Eliot Gardiner delivers a sensitive reading of this pinnacle of Western music, which he has frequented for half a century, with irresistible energy and compelling beauty. The Monteverdi Choir, undoubtedly the best choir in the world, delivers an extraordinary musical performance. This exceptional moment, filmed in the Chapelle Royale at the Ch�teau de Versailles, sumptuously captures the majesty of this masterpiece of sacred art.

It was whilst on the verge of loving despair that Hector Berlioz wrote this Symphonie Fantastique, �pisode de la vie d'un artiste (episode from the life of an artist) where he portrays the obsession of this impossible love and the torture it inflicts upon the young man who has almost gone mad. It was first performed in December 1830 and immediately became the emblem of the musical avant-garde, making use of an unheard of soundscape which drove the audience into a frenzy which had never before been known for an orchestral work in France. Revived here by the great Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the concert is filled with symbolic works by the composer with the spendid overture from the Corsaire, and the cantata, La Mort de Cl�op�tre. And finally, two mythical extracts from the great work by Berlioz, his opera, Les Troyens.

Ton Koopman, great Dutch organist and harpsichordist sublimating the baroque scene for five decades, here delivers us an overview of the Great Organ (Robert Cliquot/ Julien Tribuot, 1710) of the Royal Chapel of Versailles, inaugurating our collection “L'Âge d'Or de l'Orgue Français” (the Golden Age of French Organ). An anthology of the possibilities of this purely “French style” instrument, here are the two great Suites of Clérambaut, published the same year as the inauguration of the instrument, majestic pieces of Louis and François Couperin, masters of colors, of Daquin’s Christmas Music full of sap, and even a Bach Choral! A Master Organist makes a resounding tribute to the symbolic instrument wanted for his Chapel by Louis XIV.

Two rival yet similar works, an illustration of a "Quarrel of the Te Deums", a true war of mottled violin scores, a frivolous echo of Louis XV's final victories. It is also the rediscovery of two of the most talented composers amongst Rameau's contemporaries, Fran�ois Colin de Blamont and Esprit Joseph Antoine Blanchard. Daniel Cuiller appropriates this music with the voracity which had led him to revive a previous Te Deum, on that occasion by Henri Madin, and which was covered with praise. Add to this the brilliant singers of the Marguerite Louise choir which is directed by Ga�tan Jarry and the virtuoso musicians of Stradivaria, Daniel replied with enthusiasm to this "commission" for the Royal Chapel of Versailles.

This is the story of Pha�ton, valiant driver of the Sun's chariot, led here by Vincent Dumestre and Benjamin Lazar, armed with a rich partnership of two decades of Lullyist cooperation. Just like at the time, they will make the Versailles Opera resonate with this production of this flamboyant trag�die lyrique which was first presented in Perm in Russia in 2018. Pha�ton is a trag�die en musique in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully. Philippe Quinault wrote the French libretto after a story from Ovid's Metamorphoses. It can be read as an allegorical depiction of the punishment awaiting those mortals who dare to raise themselves as high as the "sun" (i.e. The Sun King). Pha�ton was the first lyric tragedy of Lully and Quinault to receive it's world premiere at the Palace of Versailles, where it was given without stage machinery on or about 6 January 1683. The Paris Opera also performed it at the Th��tre du Palais-Royal (beginning on 27 April), where it was very successful with the general public.

A child wonder who stirred the admiration of the Court, Dandrieu was a virtuoso harpsichordist but above all, organist of the Royal Chapel of Versailles from 1721. He left a corpus of work of a rare inventiveness tracing out the Chapel's most dazzling musical moments under the reign of Louis XV. Here are Magnificats, pieces for Christmas and some splendid hallmark scores that offer snapshots of the liturgical art of the King's Organist at the height of the French baroque. Dandrieu writes for organ the equal of the harpsichord masterpieces of his time. Jean-Baptiste Robin, organist of the Royal Chapel of Versailles, makes the Great Organ ring with majesty, thanks to a decade of close familiarity with this historic instrument.

Mazarin managed to sign the Treaty of Paris which validates the future Peace of the Pyrenees, and therefore the marriage of Louis XIV with the Infanta of Spain in 1660. In the context of these celebrations, the French ambassador in Venice, commissions a mass from Cavalli the greatest composer of his time. He thus composed this sumptuous Missa performed in January 1660 in the Basilica of San Giovanni e Paolo and brought together the best voices and most famous musicians around viols, violins, cornets and trumpets in a spatialization in the Venetian custom. In this recording, Benjamin Ch�nier takes on this chef d'oeuvre which celebrates France and Louis XIV with brilliant soloists and a strategy of spatialization in the Royal Chapel which recreates the splendid sound of 1660.

Charpentier was Lully and Lalandes’ equal for the exceptional quality of his music. For the Duchess of Guise he created works of infinite beauty, which Louis XIV particularly admired, including the Idylle en musique Les Arts Florissans (1685). Gaétan Jarry and his young musicians give back living vitality to this allegory of the artistic golden age of the “greatest king of the world” who had just settled his court in Versailles, With himself in the guise of Apollo or as the Sun King. Founded in 2007, the Marguerite Louise ensemble is made up of passionate musicians from a variety of backgrounds, from leading schools (CNSM in Paris, CNSM in Lyon, Conservatoire in Amsterdam, Center for Baroque Music in Versailles, Schola Cantorum in Basel) or already performing with prestigious ensembles (Les Arts Florissants, the Elements, the Spiritual Concert, the Concert d'Astrée). All seek to revive these little motets very intimate, quite symptomatic of the piety of the Sun King and his court at the end of the "Grand Siècle".

The Sun King’s Mass was without any doubt one of the privileged rites for the standing of the glory of the sovereign, as much because of its splendor, as for its ceremonial aspect, which brings time to a halt, solidifying the eternal image of royal power. The greatest composers of the kingdom distinguished themselves by making the holy service a veritable heavenly concert. The bell rang, the fifes and drums announced the arrival of the king in the gallery, the organ burst forth, the Grands Motets by Lully and Delalande enthralled under the golden vaults, the delicate and intimate petits motets by Couperin appear with grace in the alcoves of the Royal Chapel. The mass is performed here by Marguerite Louise and Gaétan Jarry.

Under Italian skies, the young Handel chiselled the human soul into music, providing Roman palaces with secular cantatas of incandescent virtuosity. This theatre of passions explores the thousand faces of love: from the torments of the dizzying Il delirio amoroso, to the lightness of Sans y penser, through to the chains of Un'alma innamorata and the lamentations of Crudel tiranno amor. Soprano Marie Lys lends her exquisite voice to the heroines of the "dear Saxon". Under the baton of Ga�tan Jarry, the Orchestre de l'Op�ra Royal revives this baroque ardour with supreme elegance.

A tireless adventurer and eclectic soul, Joseph Bologne de Saint-George is revisited here through a unique portrait that reveals the many facets of his talent. A true polymath born in Guadeloupe, he combined the arts and arms: an outstanding fencer, military adviser and violin virtuoso, he was even Marie Antoinette's teacher. Theotime Langlois de Swarte and the Orchestre de l'Opera Royal thus shine a light on this flamboyant personality who rose above the societal constraints of the 18th century.

Composed in 1680, Proserpine marks the reunion of Lully and Quinault after the scandal surrounding Isis (1677). Set in the splendour of Saint-Germain, the work offers a mythological mirror to the Dauphin's wedding. In it, Lully revolutionises his art: the orchestra becomes the driving force of the drama while the voices gain in expressive intensity. Under the baton of Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques revive this gem in which the fate of a captive queen and the splendour of restored peace unite in immortal harmony.

This is a sort of self-portrait of the Great Organ of the Royal Chapel of Versailles, delivering all its aspects, enhanced by the choice of a repertoire emblematic of the baroque era: the major classic French organ works (Couperin, Marchand, de Grigny, Corrette) composed to glorify the very specific aesthetics of instruments like that of Louis XIV’s Chapel; but also to reveal its other sound riches, transcriptions of chefs d’oeuvres, from Le Sommeil d’Atys by Lully, to the contredanses of Rameau’s Boréades. To add a new dimension to the organ’s sound universe and to enhance its orchestral qualities, modern editing and “re-recording” processes were gently used to serve the superposition of musical voices, as if invisible hands filled in for the organist in certain works, which are true Proust’s “madeleines” for Gaétan Jarry. He goes all out to play the instrument of Versailles “for the Glory of God and the King”!

Could Bach’s Suites be most representative of his French identity? Composed in Germany around 1720 at the Court of Köthen, like the Brandenburg Concertos, for a Francophile and gambist, they find in Myriam Rignol’s vision and vibrant embodiment an unmistakable French flavor, transcended by the viola da gamba! When an exceptional talent meets the instrument that makes Bach resound in Versailles, lending it the rhythm of the dances so dear to Louis, in a polyphony like no other, Johann-Sebastian dazzles in the Palace of the Sun King…

Around 1600, when opera was invented in Italy, Venice was resplendent with the works of Giovanni Gabrieli in the Basilica of San Marco. A daring amalgamation of Flemish and Italian styles, this is a corpus of virtuoso pieces in which voices compete with cornets and trombones for polyphony of rare beauty. In an Italy ravaged by wars, where the Condottieri were the modern Heroes, the souls of these captains rise again thanks to the music of the brilliant Gabrieli, the ultimate representative of a Renaissance that put the fighting Princes into the last cherished armours.... Adrien Mabire and his Mercenaries have been recruited to serve under Maestro Gabrieli, to enable his works to resound loud and clear, where we hear the triumphant flapping banners of the Victory at Lepanto, Glory be to the Serenissima!

Master of 18th century French opera, Rameau wrote for the stage for three decades (1733-1764). His thirty or so operatic works give considerable space to the haute-contre voice, the quintessence of most of the title roles: Platée, Dardanus, Hippolyte, Pygmalion… Mathias Vidal, a brilliant representative of this haute-contre tessitura, is one of its foremost specialists. Having sung the majority of Rameau’s operas on stage, he is an obvious paradigm of their characters. Together with Gaétan Jarry, he has conceived a programme of the most dazzling and expressive arias, to which have been added scenes accompanied by a chorus. This anthology brings to the fore the radiant voice of this pillar of the Royal Opera of Versailles. For this passionate singer of the French repertory, to record a recital dedicated to Pierre de Jelyotte, Rameau’s haute-contre, makes the theatricality of his music resound to a thrilling climax!

Christmas time would make sacred music shined forth in monarchical France. The organists had free rein to improvise on the popular Nativity songs, which had been known to all the faithful for centuries, and amateurs would swarm to churches throughout Paris to hear the virtuoso works of these masters! Here, finally gathered together, are the most famous organ pieces of Daquin, Corette, Dandrieu and Balbastre along with the melodies that inspired them, played by the skilled fingers of Gaetan Jarry at the Grand Orgue of the Royal Chapel of Versailles, accompanied by the children’s choir (the Pages) of the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, just as the children used to at the Chapel during the reign of Louis XIV!

Two viola da gamba players, two inspired soloists, two major composers of the century of Louis XIV: Marais and Sainte Colombe. What could be more sensually French? When Sainte Colombe published his Concerts à deux violes esgales, he made two almost human voices sing together, their complaints almost religious, and touched the heart with his poetry and perfection. His disciple Marin Marais found new colors in his viol duets, and a more dramatic discourse: the autumn of the Great King's life was immersed in this sumptuous music, so closely linked to the spirit of the French Court. To bring this intimate Versailles back to life, Mathilde Vialle and Myriam Rignol take us into the mysterious harmonies of two violes esgales… until the famous Couplets de Folies!

The first masterpiece of sacred music is undoubtedly the mythical Vespers of Monteverdi, first published in Venice in 1610. Quintessential of the great Italian polychoral style of writing, with its choirs, initially distributed throughout the entire volume of the Basilica San Marco for spectacular effects, the Vespers are here raised to the heavenly spheres by Raphael Pichon: every aspect of the Royal Chapel of Versailles (1710) is being put to use to magnify the music echoing from the Royal Tribune to that of the Great Organ. The Pygmalion choir and orchestra stands flawless, the soloists are overwhelming and the emotional power released by this interpretation set in space and light is stunning: its beauty seems never ending. The choral monumental piece by Monteverdi, which crystallizes the height of the baroque, meets the highest standards defended by Raphaël Pichon. To be more intimate with God than ever before...

The lavish princely entertainments that were given in Italy since the Renaissance, and in particular at the Medici Court in Florence, were famous throughout Europe. The musical interludes that adorned them were already true dramatic masterpieces which marvelously combined music and poetry. They set a frame for the birth of the Italian Opera, Monteverdi’s Orfeo (1607) being their direct heir with its almost perfect architecture, the depth of its expression and the immanent beauty of its music. In a state of grace, Raphaël Pichon invites you to discover these Italian splendors, by imagining a princely interlude conceived with the most sumptuous pieces of music of the turn of the 1600s that is both true opera scenes but also gigantic polychoral pieces for thirty voices. All of them filmed here in the most beautiful palatial Gallery in the World: namely, we invite you on a dreamlike musical journey in the Hall of Mirrors of the Château de Versailles.

What if Vivaldi’s famous Quattro Stagioni, performed in Paris in 1728, had been preceded by those of Guido, the star violinist of the Parisian orchestras of Louis XIV’s maturity? Here, at last, are these two works reunited: to the well-known virtuosity of Vivaldi’s work, of extraordinary impact, Guido’s Seasons oppose a mixture of Italian features and a thousand facets worthy of the French Court, with an infectious ardor! A mysterious Neapolitan who arrived in Paris around 1702 as Music Master to Philippe d’Orléans, Guido was close to the financier Crozat, who in 1716 commissioned Watteau to produce four paintings on the theme of the Seasons: he set them to music around 1717 with his Quattro Stagioni dell’anno. So, Vivaldi or Guido, who inspired the other? For this exciting confrontation, the Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal is enriched with wind instruments, and suddenly a thousand colors appear: the song of birds, the hurdy-gurdy of peasant dances, the shepherd’s flute, and the hunting horns! Conducted by the virtuoso Andrés Gabetta, here is all the music of Vivaldi and more: Eight Seasons!

The Symphonies for the king's soupers are emblematic of Versailles and of the greatest king in the world. What other Prince would assemble the 24 king's violins and the winds of his royal �curie for his meal? With the luxury of an opera orchestra, here we have Louis XIV at his table with music every day. From the chapel to the apartments, the whole ch�teau resounded with Lalande's music. His Majesty prayed, ate, laughed and wept with it. Vincent Dumestre has passionately resurrected this royal, gastronomical and therefore opulent music.

Castrati were the first "stars" in the history of music. They often held the title role (and in Rome all the female roles in the operas), creating on the stage a real competition of virtuosity and emotion between the singers, with the audience as the referee with it's demands for an encore. What if three of the best singers of our time were also part of this Competition of Virtuosity? Here come Valer Sabadus (Arad, 1986), Filippo Mineccia (Florence, 1981), Samuel Mari�o (Caracas, 1993). Virtuoso arias, love duets and combative trios made the castrati triumph. Up to each and everyone to decide who is their winner!

Rameau's career was coming to an end when in 1763 rehearsals began for his last work, Les Boréades, intended for the Fêtes Royales de Choisy in June, celebrating the end of the Seven Years' War. On 27 April the rehearsals took place in Versailles, then… nothing more. Les Boreades was not part of the royal festivities, and the composer’s death in 1764 plunged his last tragedie-lyrique into oblivion, and it was not to see the light of day for another two centuries! Yet, what a splendid opera it is, Rameau’s most accomplished, for he was in full possession of his creative means at eighty years of age. The writing for orchestra and choir is wildly virtuosic, the melodic invention is exceptional, the drama is powerful: it is a veritable musical testament, a succession of violent elements, passionate duets and heartrending lamentations. Taking on this monument of French music, Vaclav Luks brings together magnificent soloists and his choral and orchestral forces, which regularly resound in the Royal Opera: their determination is admirable and Versailles really does owe it to Rameau, since the unfinished rehearsals of 1763, to make a second recording of his masterpiece!

The most famous ‘Lecons de Tenebres’ are those of Francois Couperin, dating from 1714. At the end of the rein of Louis XIV, the sacred emotions composed by Couperin for his female singers would appear to have originated in an opera… In the Parisian convents, people made haste to listen to these divine voices singing the Lessons of Holy Week, the faceless voices of young convent recluses, voices form heaven… but more often Opera singers! The candles were extinguished as the Tenebrae service progressed, concluding in the darkness of the night… The Lecons by Francois Couperin, organist of La Chapelle Royale for 37 years, are the pinnacle of French sacred art in the Century of Louis Le Grand. The sublime and juvenile voices of Florie Valiquette and Sophie Junker intertwine in virtuosity and lamentations, giving this music a fascinating freshness. At the head of the soloists of the Royal Opera Orchestra, Stephane Fuget works on the ornamentation in the time-honored traditional manner, giving meaning to each phase, and bringing out the brilliance of this apotheosis of French baroque singing.