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.

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.

Two illustrious composers at odds with their Requiem? When, in 1791, a 36-year-old Mozart composed the one that would remain unfinished due to his death, he did so in response to a commission from the eccentric Count von Walsegg. Mozart would never hear his music. At the time, Salieri was at the height of his glory at the age of 41, famed for his operas from Paris and Milan to Rome and of course Vienna, where he was Court Composer and Director of the Italian Opera. Having put an end to his lyrical career, in 1804 he composed his Requiem, which was strictly intended for his own funeral, where it was indeed played – in 1825. Hervé Niquet brings us these two monuments of Viennese liturgy with panache. Could Mozart have been imagining his own funeral when he composed his sublime Requiem? What could be a more fantastic musical celebration of a genius?

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.

The Middle East and its Thousand and One Nights (published in France in 1717) became a fantasy of French opera, and Rameau wrote on this theme for three decades. Far from merely shifting the action to the mysterious lands of “Persia” with its cruel yet salacious customs, the composer amplified the personalities of its characters and made their music sparkle more than ever. The Suites taken from Rameau’s greatest masterpieces, from Indes Galantes to Boréades, are reproduced with great energy by the two virtuoso harpsichords of Clément Geoffroy and Loris Barrucand. The century of Louis XV dances to the rhythm of the tambourins, sizzling irresistibly with “savagery", flowers, pleasures and infernal spirits.

Like a shooting star, the French singer Sophie Gail filled her short life with music and passion. Publishing her first romances at the age of 15 in 1790, this divorcée who led a free life (with four children from four different fathers) achieved fame as a composer at the Opéra-Comique in 1813, while having her romances hummed by all of the Empire's "Belle société". They are brought back to life with spirit and brio by the magnificent duo of Maïlys de Villoutreys and Clara Izambert.

In 1743, two years before Rameau’s Platée, Boismortier created an extraordinarily modern and madcap “comic ballet”, Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse. As the exuberant plot unfurls, Cervantes’ hero encounters monsters, enchanters, princesses and people from Japan, making for plenty of offbeat and audacious dances and choruses. Musical beauty rubs shoulders with satirical and irreverent comedy. A choice work for Hervé Niquet, who leads his Concert Spirituel with unparalleled energy!

What if the tour de force of French opera in the Age of Enlightenment was Scylla et Glaucus? At the age of 50, the famous violinist Leclair decided to write his first operatic piece, investing irrepressible energy in it. The drama is unrelenting: the nymph Scylla spurns the advances of the Demigod Glaucus, who seeks out the sorceress Circe to cast a spell on her; Circe is in love with Glaucus, drives Scylla to madness and turns her into a deadly rock… An infernal scene, an ocean storm and final cataclysm are employed to give striking relief to this trio of unappeased love, the effusions of irresistible beauty. The conductor and violinist Stefan Plewniak conducts a glorious stage of soloists in the eddies of vengeance!

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.

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!

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!

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".