Although Charpentier left little trace of his worldly existence, his music fortunately has been preserved nearly in its entirety. This book is the first comprehensive study of his approximately 550 compositions, including a number of important pieces that remain relatively unknown. A discussion of the composer's theoretical writings, a complete catalog of Charpentier's works, and an extensive bibliography are all given here. While Charpentier's life and personality are still shrouded in mystery, our knowledge about him has nevertheless increased considerably over the past few years, and it will certainly continue to be enriched by new discoveries in the future. His music, for the most part still unknown both on disc and in concert, is waiting for performers to reveal all its facets, and for an ever-growing public finally to discover Charpentier as one of France's most remarkable composers.

The tercentenary of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's death in 2004 stimulated a surge of activity on the part of performers and scholars, confirming the modern assessment of Charpentier (1643-1704) as one of the most important and inventive composers of the French Baroque. The present book provides a snapshot of Charpentier scholarship in the early years of the new century. Its 13 chapters illustrate not only the sheer variety of strands currently pursued, but also the way in which these strands frequently intertwine and generate the potential for future research. Between them, they examine facets of the composer's compositional language and process, aspects of his performance practice and notation, the contexts within which he worked, and the nature of his legacy. The appendix contains a transcription of the inventory of Charpentier's manuscripts prepared when their sale to the Royal Library was negotiated in 1726 - an invaluable research tool, as numerous chapters in the book demonstrate. The wide variety of topics covered here will appeal both to readers interested in Charpentier's music and to those with a broader interest in the music and culture of the French Baroque, including aspects of patronage, church and theatre. Far from treating his output in isolation, this book places it in the wider context alongside such composers as Lully, Lalande, Marais, Fran‘s Couperin and Rameau; it also views the composer in relation to his Italian training. In the process, the under-examined question of influence - who influenced Charpentier? whom did he influence? - repeatedly comes to the fore. The book's Foreword was written by H. Wiley Hitchcock shortly before he died. Hitchcock's own part in raising the profile of Charpentier and his music to the level of recognition which it now enjoys cannot be emphasized enough. Appropriately the volume is dedicated to his memory.

59 biographies of the ancestors, relatives, colleagues and patrons of French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704), followed by a boiography of the composer based upon the author's archival research. Published to commemorate the tricentennial of the composer's death, Feb. 24, 1704. Will be of special interest to musicologists and historians (French history, women's history, history of clientage/patronage, history of the family).

The Plague of Milan (c. 1680) is commonly called an oratorio but is best described as a motet. The text, a description of the charitable acts of the Bishop of Milan during the bubonic plague of 1576, is based on Charpentier's holograph manuscript and includes a full score for soloists, double chorus, winds, and strings. This edition includes an analysis of the music and text, a translation of the test, a discussion of editorial problems, and a collection of writings on the work. Originally published in 1979. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

The French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier is emerging from long neglect as the most important contemporary of Lully. Supplemented by numerous musical illustrations, this study provides a concise and fluent introduction to the composer, his distinctly attractive music, and his place and influence in the world of seventeenth-century French music.

As part of Heart's Ease, K. Gregor offers biographical information about the life and works of the French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1634?-1704). Charpentier composed theater music, operas, cantatas, motets, oratorios, sacred music, and other works. Gregor includes a bibliography of books about Charpentier, as well as a list of his key works, a timeline of events in Charpentier's life, and other information. An image of Charpentier is available.

Who originally authored the anonymous, undated French manuscript Traité d'accompagnement et de composition? Carla E. Williams tackles this mystery while providing the first English translation of this rare manuscript, which resides in the collections of the Lilly Library at Indiana University Bloomington. A Case for Charpentier presents a side-by-side transcription and translation of the treatise along with an introduction that offers historical context. In the manuscript itself, late 17th-century and early 18th-century writers discuss principal musical elements of composition including major and minor modes, the fundamental chords of both modes, dissonances and consonances, meter, tempo, and continuo realization, as well as basse continue. While these writers have not been formally identified, Williams argues that the handwriting of one is that of composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier. By providing a full physical description of the manuscript, along with comparisons of Charpentier's other writings and his handwriting, Williams sheds new light on both the treatise and Charpentier's theoretical writings. With this translation, Williams not only shares invaluable insights into the pedagogical approaches for composition and continuo realization in late 17th-century France but also finally makes Traité d'accompagnement et de composition available to a broader audience.