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.

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.

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.

The Coronation of King George II was a magnificent event, deploying great pomp and ceremonial, elevated by music of an equal splendor. Handel, the celebrated opera composer, was commissioned by the new king to compose the music for this grand ceremony which was due to be held at Westminster Abbey. His antiphons stood by ceremonial works by other composers such as Henry Purcell, John Blow, Thomas Tallis, John Farmer, Orlando Gibbons and William Child, intermingled with superb fanfares and processions of drums. The result is one of the most beautiful ceremonial works ever written for a coronation in England.

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.

In 1791, in a suburb of Vienna, Mozart created his Singspiel Die Zauberfl�te. The libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, who also directed it in his theatre, wanted to reach out to the popular audience in German. Thanks to the dramatic and dreamlike qualities of the work, and Mozart's brilliant music, it exceeded one hundred performances in one year and it's success became universal. But in order to win over all audiences, it's trump card was to speak to the audience in their own language - and not in Italian like the court opera. This is what this production offers, in an entirely French version, staged by C�cile Roussat and Julien Lubek and conducted by Herv� Niquet with a sparkling team: Mozart's work suddenly takes on the tone of the Op�ra-Comique � la fran�aise. And thus, to go it even more strength, we have now the Magic Flute in French!

We all remember the "Austrian woman" by her nickname "Madam deficit," but on the other hand, if you put aside the parties, the balls, and the extravagant garments, Marie-Antoinette's pronounced fondness for the arts, the theater, music, and dance is less well-known. And so, even though a staff was affected to oversee her pleasures, Marie-Antoinette handled the organization of Court spectacles, and even became involved with events taking place in Paris. Studying singing, harpsichord, and the harp, she would also be involved in acting. But without a doubt the role of her life was that of Dauphine and then Queen of France, caught between etiquette, inactivity, frivolity and intrigues. Using the material, where theatricality plays a central role, Thierry Malandain has created for Chateau de Versailles Spectacles in 2019, this ballet Marie-Antoinette based on the symphonies of Joseph Haydn and Christoph Willibald Gluck.

If the cherished corpus of Pi�ces de Violes by Fran�ois Couperin Le Grand, the celebrated organist of the Chapelle Royale de Versailles, constitutes a major contribution to the viol repertoire in France at the beginning of the 18th century, this unique volume published in Paris in 1728 is also shrouded in mystery for any musician who might wish to immerse himself in these sumptuous pieces. Might they have been composed for an exceptional performer, Marin Marais or Antoine Forqueray, Couperin's colleagues at the Court of Louis XIV? Arranged in two suites of splendid pieces, blending Italian and French styles, they represent all the spirit and finesse of the music of the King's Chamber at it's apogee. Accompanied by the finest French musicians, Mathilde Vialle divinely plays her viol, in turn both devilish and sweet-toned, intense and acute, virtuoso and sensitive, and through such outstanding portraits of the human soul, brings the spirit of Versailles to life by exalting it

An imprisoned King, his knights singing loyalty to him with a famous air "O Richard, O my King" sung in the Royal Opera House by the Bodyguards of Louis XVI in 1789, which would unleash mob justice forcing the royal family to leave the château and never return… To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the theater of the Royal Opera of Versailles, the ensemble presents the return of Gretry’s most celebrated Richard Coeur de Lion (Richard the Lionheart), which for nearly a hundred years was the most famous 18th century French Opera-comique in Europe. Herve Niquet and Marshall Pynkoski place the action back under the reign of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Gretry, the Queen’s most beloved composer, was a familiar face at the Royal Opera. His Richard is the culmination of a career: here is the opportunity to put him back into the great History of Versailles, with the first complete production at the Royal Opera of Versailles since 1789.

Make the most of the beauty of the Chateau de Versailles gardens, the groves are exceptionally open to the public, the fountains’ water turned on and accompanied by music that in bygone days would bring them to life on the occasion of the Musical Fountains Shows. The Grandes Eaux de Versailles- Music of the Royal Festivities is a selection of works from the new label “Château de Versailles Spectacles.” Entirely recorded in the emblematic places of the Chateau, such as the Royal Opera, the Royal Chapel, La Cour de Marbre or the Little Queen’s Theater (Trianon), you will find compositions interpreted by the best and most promising artists. The works featured here include pieces by Lully, Delalande, Charpentier, Campra, Haendel, Cavalli, Biber, and Philidor.

Two countertenors for Pergolesi's Stabat Mater: this is the resurrection of the first performance in France of this work, introduced by two Italian Castratos from the Royal Chapel of Louis XV, who were enthusiastic propagators of it both at Court and at the Concert Spirituel. Paris was conquered and saw in it the revolutionary mark of a Neapolitan genius, who alas passed away so young. Pergolesi, shortly before his death at the age of 26 and affected by illness, expressed the Virgin's suffering with the language of passion more typical of opera. The Stabat Mater, first performed in 1736, is one of the emblematic works of the baroque and had a profound effect on the musical world of the 18th century. To give full splendor to the sumptuous duet of angelic voices lamenting the pain of Mary at the foot of the Cross, two performers are required who blend their timbres, like the two Neapolitan castratos for whom this music was composed. The brilliant sopranist Samuel Marino and the no less brilliant counter tenor Filippo Mineccia form the exceptional duo for this programme of emotion and virtuosity.

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.

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!

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”!

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.