The powerful Catholic Archbishop of Salzburg, renowned for the extraordinary religious ceremonies held at his cathedral, received a splendid festival mass from Muffat. Muffat was a true European: he studied music in Paris with Lully, was an organist in Alsace, and had positions in Vienna, Prague, and Salzburg. He was a man who fused Italian, French and German styles, adding his extravagant verve, especially for this 1690 Pentecost. The music is written for twenty-four different voices and has to be distributed through the space by five choirs, along with impressive effects from the trumpets and percussion. The Royal Chapel allows this “immense” music to be set in space as it deserves. Le Banquet Céleste (Damien Guillon) and La Guilde des Mercenaires (Adrien Mabire) rise to the challenge of performing this work of exceptional proportions!

Jean Gilles (Tarascon, 1688), Chapel Master of Toulouse Cathedral from 1697, was a genius struck down at the age of just 37, in 1705. The entire kingdom admired his famed Mass for the Dead, which was played at his own funeral “he sealed his score with his last will and testament, in which he asked that the Chapter have this mass sung to lay his soul to rest”, then performed throughout the century, both in concert and for the funerals of Campra (1744), Rameau (1764) and Louis XV (1774).

Fabien Armengaud and his ensemble from the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles perform this masterpiece with the addition of a new motet, Domine Deus Meus, replete with dramatic effects including an awe-inspiring tempest. Gilles’ composition, with its extraordinary expansiveness and mastery of counterpoint, epitomises the nobility that makes French Grand Siècle religious music so incomparable, glorified by this Requiem Æternam…

In 1692, Charpentier wrote the Te Deum that would make him famous into the 20th century. Played for the military victory of Steenkerque, most probably at the church of Saint-Louis-des-Jésuites, this masterpiece, which glorified the armies of Louis XIV, is a powerful fresco whose prelude opens with the martial rhythms of the timpani and trumpets, symbolising the Grand Siècle of the arts, but also Louis XIV's conquests. Valentin Tournet adds pieces to the programme whose pomp is matched by their quality and expressiveness: the De Profundis has an extraordinary solemnity, while the Marche de Triomphe sounds the trumpets for the king considered the greatest in the world.

Here; four exceptional Grands Motets composed by Lully to the greatest glory of Louis XIV have been brought together: Plaude Laetare Gallia was performed in 1668 as a jubilant celebration of the birth of his first son; the Grand Dauphin; Benedictus is a piece of extraordinary architecture that transcends the sacred drama; Notus in Judea Deus; composed in 1685 shortly before Lully’s death; is a true victory song celebrating the glory of God; finally; Domine Salvum fac Regem; an energetic “God save the King”; was systematically sung in honour of the sovereign. The sublime Magnificat by Henry Du Mont; who was in charge of the Music of the King's Chapel until 1683; adds yet more splendour. Stéphane Fuget has brought together the best performers; a veritable “army of generals” with a vast choir composed of exceptional singers; to bring these legendary pieces back to life amid the magnificence of Versailles.

In the Versailles of the Kings of France, music was omnipresent at the great ceremonial feasts. Louis XV had the Opéra Royal built in 1770 to house the official wedding celebrations of his three grandchildren. The cornerstone of the ceremony was the grand ceremonial dinner, accompanied throughout by music that covered the hubbub of the assembled courtiers and the noise of the service at the table. For the wedding of the Comte d'Artois (the future Charles X) in 1773, the orchestral refinement was matched only by the dramatic power and choreographic energy of the setting. Alexis Kossenko gives these festive pieces the luxury of being performed by a full orchestra, on the very stage where they were performed for this historic wedding!

Louis XIV enjoyed holding private concerts for himself, performed by the musicians in his service. In 1714, François Couperin composed an ensemble of short pieces for this very purpose, brought together in four Concerts, each one a marvel of the King’s Chamber Music. By turns dancing or mysterious, the pieces by Couperin, who presided over the harpsichord during these musical moments in the twilight years of the Sun King’s reign, form a veritable compendium of Grand Siècle music. They dazzle like never before at the hands of Patrick Cohën-Akenine and his Folies Françoises…

This is a baroque dream: a performance of the sacred drama David and Jonathas, a masterpiece by Charpentier and one of the miracles of French opera, in the Royal Chapel of Versailles! In 1688, the Louis-le-Grand Jesuit school performed this vibrant version of the fateful, fusional love between David and Jonathas… and the inevitable confrontation between their armies. Their deep friendship – biblical love – leads to the death of Jonathas in the arms of the victorious David. The intense emotion exuded by this piece is amplified by the staging, sets and costumes, under the stirring direction of Gaétan Jarry: a sumptuous, dazzling baroque vision.

Two treasures are finally revealed to the public: the Berkeley manuscript and that of Caumont contain many anonymous pieces for organ, jewels revived at last for this world premiere recording. Five Great Hymns are presented that were composed around 1700, when the French organ school reached its peak, and many pieces organised in suites, which make the sound of the Great Organs of The Royal Chapel of Versailles (1710) resonate gloriously, in Jean-Baptiste Robin’s majestic interpretation.

French organ music under Napoleon and the Restoration is an overlooked period in musical history, inheriting the glories of classical organ and heralding the great romantic organ music. This pivotal time, teeming with great performers – most of them improvisers – counted Isaac-François Lefèbure-Wély among its masters, who presided over the prestigious Eglise Saint-Roch from 1805. In 1823 he published a collection of 34 Noëls, inspired by those of his predecessors yet deeply rooted in their time, imbued with the memory of the Incroyables and the Merveilleuses. These extremely popular works for nativity ring out in true splendour from the organ of the Chapelle Royale, shimmering with the mysteries of Christmas through Quentin Guérillot’s generous, familiar style.

After five triumphs at the Paris Opéra, Chevalier Gluck, reformer of French opera and protégé of Marie-Antoinette, created his last work in 1779: Echo et Narcisse, based on Ovid's Metamorphoses. Adopting the style of a pastoral, it was spurned by the public at its premiere, but is a tribute to the splendour of the French tradition. With the support of the Fondation Etrillard, Hervé Niquet has resurrected Gluck's last opus, in which the fates of the nymph Echo, who repeats the last word she hears ad infinitum, and the proud Narcissus, condemned to love only his own reflection, intertwine: two perfectly Baroque myths!

Musettes, hurdy-gurdies, and flutes formed the dream countryside of Rococo-style salons, that of Watteau’s painting Concert Champêtre (1727), when Naudot’s Fantaisies were enjoying their hour of glory. The fashion for “pastoralism” was in full swing, and professional musicians as well as great amateurs vied with each other in “pastoral” concertos where musettes and hurdy-gurdies featured heavily. These instruments were popular originally, garnering great skill to rise to the heights of virtuoso: enough to enchant Louis XV’s courtesans and those close to La Pompadour! Alexis Kossenko reveals these wonderfully outdated gems to us as a bold shepherd.

In 1761, a 31-year-old Haydn joined the service of Count Esterházy, who entrusted the young composer with his orchestra, said to be one of the best in Vienna. The Prince “gave Haydn the four times of the day as the theme for a composition, which he set to music”. The result was Haydn’s Symphonies on the times of day: Le Matin (Morning), Le Midi (Noon) and Le Soir (Night), as the composer nicknamed them in French. These first Symphonies by Haydn are true masterpieces and served as Thierry Malandain's inspiration for his ballet “Marie-Antoinette”. These sinfonia concertantes give each soloist in the orchestra their moment of glory, offering the listener an almost “landscaped” vision of the passing of time, until the Opéra Royal Orchestra unleashes the final, furious tempest!

Jordi Savall is painting Monteverdi in the colours of the Mediterranean. The Catalan maestro has entrusted the title role of this foundational work of Western music to a remarkable baritone: the magnificent Marc Mauillon embodies Orfeo, his resonant and ductile voice in perfect unison with the conductor’s musical vision. Here, a warm performance and rich sound reign supreme!

In 1643 in Venice, Cavalli’s new opera caused a sensation among the audience of the Teatro San Cassiano. L’Egisto takes its name from the piece’s main character, an Arcadian shepherd who is misled by an ambiguous inscription into believing his love is lost. A succession of misunderstandings ensues, along with spectacular pieces of music, a scene of madness and a descent into the Underworld for this would-be Orpheus searching for his Eurydice. The sumptuousness of the music, which masterfully illustrates the emotions involved in a love quadrangle, offers Vincent Dumestre and his cast the opportunity to paint with dazzling colours and virtuoso strokes for this first great labyrinth of Baroque sentiment.

Nicolas Lebègue, the principal organist of King Louis XIV from 1678 until his death in 1702, represents the first state of perfection for the French organ. Alternating great virtuoso pieces worthy of the pomp of Versailles, inspired Noëls and poetic elevations, these Vêpres de Noël (Christmas Vespers) showcase the traditional alternation of vocal pieces, as practiced by nuns in Paris, Port-Royal or the Filles-Dieu who attended to prisoners sentenced to death: Lebègue’s Motet for single voice, and the Plain-Chant composed by Nivers for use in Paris. All the atmosphere of this “French-style” nativity is recreated with generosity and beauty under the direction of Nicolas Bucher, on the keys of the Great Organ of the Chapelle Royale.

Desmarest was something of a frustrated genius. A precocious musician, he had a great career on opera from 1693 to 1698. His destiny was broken when he kidnapped the love of his life and fled to Brussels to escape a death sentence. Kapellmeister to the King of Spain, Philippe V in 1701, then to the Duke of Lorraine, Paris remained off-limits to him until 1720 … Circé (1694) was his apotheosis, meeting of Ulysses and the sorcerers, a superb and supernatural heroine. The dramatic force of the work stimulates the flamboyant Véronique Gens who plays the evil lover!

To mark the Coronation of King Charles III, we have brought together the most famous pieces of music from the coronations of James II in 1685 and George II in 1727. The masterpieces by Purcell and Handel display an extraordinarily evocative force: their “Grand Style” put a magnificent stamp on the Ceremonial of the Crown of England. Drum rolls and glorious trumpet fanfares herald the acclamations of Westminster: God Save the King!

Venus, irritated by the young mortal Psyché whose beauty radiates all across the world, dispatches Cupid to impose a thousand trials upon her, which the young victim triumphs over to the point of becoming immortal. In this mythological fable, which is his sixth tragédie lyrique (1678), Lully shows off his immense talent and takes revenge on Molière, for whom he had written the music of a monumental Psyché in 1671, and which had been the cause of their falling out. A connoisseur of Lully, Christophe Rousset conducts a sumptuous cast that gives his Psyché all the luster of the great French operas!

No noblemen in England and very few in Europe lived a life as splendid, as magnificent, as grand as that of the Duke of Chandos. At Cannons, north of London, the residence of James Brydges (1674-1744) hosted Handel from 1717 to 1719, where he worked with the Prince’s musical forces, composing eleven anthems for soloists, choir and orchestra, destined for the religious services of the court. A precious collection and a testing ground for the master’s future great oratorios, the Chandos Anthems fuse genres with impressions of Italian cantatas, Corellian sonatas, arias and choruses in the pure English tradition of Purcell. All too little-known, these gems are led with panache by Gaétan Jarry and captivate instantly with their virtuosity, their light texture and their colors, generously painted by Handel’s genius!

When François Couperin published his Mass for the Convents in 1690, he had just turned 20, yet he had created the most exceptional collection of organ music to be written during the reign of Louis XIV. On the magnificent and historic Great Organ of the Royal Chapel of Versailles, over which Couperin presided from 1693 to 1730, the celebrated organist of Notre-Dame de Paris, Olivier Latry, performs a sumptuous version of this Organ Mass which, in a world premiere, is interlaced with captivating Chants sur le Livre, those sublime holy improvisations unique to French baroque music... for a moment of eternity.

A stranger reveals the opulence of the Royal Chapel of Louis XV: Charles-Hubert Gervais was Chapel Master from 1723 onwards, thus offering a perfect representation of the splendor of sacred music at the Court of Versailles. Heir to the great frescoes of Lully and Lalande, Gervais was above all an opera composer, and his dramatic style lends his Grands Motets a decidedly Italian resonance. With this protégé of the Regent Philippe of Orléans – he remained his favored musician for two decades – the evocative power and pomp of Versailles are given added shine by the galant style. Served like a king by magnificent performers, here is Gervais bathed in the glory of Versailles!

Plácido Domingo has held a unique place in the history of opera for six decades. Eighty years young, this Madrileño is a lion of the stage who is putting on a Gala for the Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles worthy of the French public’s great admiration for him. Accompanied by the Orchestra of the Opéra Royal under the direction of Laurent Campellone, in a duet with the dazzling Jennifer Rowley, Plácido Domingo performs at Versailles as a living legend, for an unforgettable evening.

In 1723, Marais published his final masterpiece: La Gamme (The Scale). At 67, he was covered in glory and had nothing left to prove, but took utter delight in giving himself over to the composition of these extraordinary pieces for violin, viola and harpsichord, a diabolical trio in his hands. In the form of a small opera, this collection places drama and action at the center of the music. Hearts capsize, feelings are expressed with excess, virtuosity reigns right up to the emblematic Sonnerie de Sainte Genevieve du Mont (The Bells of St. Genevieve), a true marvel which repeats the tones of three bells so as to become hypnotic... Yoko Kawakubo, Myriam Rignol and Julien Wolfs reign magnificently over this music, which casts the last glimmers of the Grand Siècle into the whirlwind reign of Louis XV.