1694: the first French opera composed by a woman is premiered at the Academie royale de musique. The fateful destiny of the Greek lovers, driven to blindness and horror by the gods: Cephalus will kill Procris, whom he believes to be unfaithful, and himself… A virtuoso harpsichordist much appreciated by Louis XIV, Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre chose to become a composer at a time when such freedom was virtually unheard of for a woman. Her gamble paid off, with six performances and the admiration of posterity: this flamboyant work has finally been brought back to the public by Reinoud van Mechelen.

Would you happen to know Mademoiselle Duval, the composer of a single opera, Les Genies, performed nine times in 1736, which was a great success and has never been performed again since its premiere at the Academie Royale de Musique in Paris? A singer and composer, Mademoiselle Duval was the second woman to create an opera there, following in the footsteps of Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre. Although her life remains a mystery, this accomplished harpsichordist, who dazzled audiences by playing continuo at the premiere of Les Genies, wrote a work of entertainment contemporary with Les Indes Galantes, in which each act unfolds a new love story centred on the Geniuses of Water (Les Nymphes), Air (Les Sylphes), Earth (Les Gnomes) and Fire (Les Salamandres). It's a little marvel that Camille Delaforge's curiosity has finally brought us, passionately conducting this rarity of the French repertoire with absolute joy!

This is Atys, the King's Opera, Lully’s masterpiece, premièred in 1676 before the court. A legendary work in the rediscovery of Grand-Siècle operas, Atys is a paragon of emerging lyric art: it places love at the centre of the plot, and its hero – for the first time in Lully's work – dies on stage, provoking a sumptuous lamentation that could wring tears from the most hardened heart. Lully’s incredible music magnifies Philippe Quinault’s splendid tragic text, creating their first joint masterpiece, an Atys adored by the Sun King. Christophe Rousset offers his vision of a piece that has fascinated him for the past three decades, lending it the sensual colour imbued by the Reinoud Van Mechelen's performance, a miraculous Atys…

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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.

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!

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.

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 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!

Venus; goddess of sensuality and great orchestrator of pleasures; pulls the strings of opera characters as if they were puppets in the land of Tendre. With great delectation; Marie Perbost invokes the goddess and the heroines of French opera from the century of Louis XV to embody all the victims of passions unleashed by Aphrodite. There are masterpieces and discoveries here; from the satirical mockery of Madness in Rameau’s Platée to the virtuosic pages of Mondonville in Les Fêtes de Paphos. By turns pastoral and piquant; tender and burning; the divine Marie Perbost; supported by Gaétan Jarry; embraces all the music of love under Louis XV. A medley of jesting and fleeting romances; grace and libertinism; experience the delirium of the senses titillated by Eros and Cupid!

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.

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…

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.

In 1733, Pergolesi created La Serva padrona in Naples, which won over Paris in 1752, becoming the symbol of Italian music. Quickly played in French as La Servante Maîtresse, it inspired Rousseau for his opera Devin du Village, a parody of which was created under the title Les Amours de Bastien et Bastienne. Mozart discovered it in 1768 and composed his Bastien und Bastienne in German for the private theatre of the magician Mesmer.

These two masterpieces bound through style and history come to life with colourful plots: lightness, falsehoods and what is comic create delightfully bubbly situations for the tyrannical servant and naive shepherds, from which Pergolesi and Mozart derived the best musical effects. Adèle Carlier, David Tricou and Marc Scoffoni, with the Opéra Royal Orchestra and Gaétan Jarry, carry this torch of emotion and comedy, so emblematic of the 18th century.

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!