Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643 – 1704) was a French Baroque composer during the reign of Louis XIV. One of his most famous works is the main theme from the prelude of his Te Deum, Marche en rondeau. This theme is still used today as a fanfare during television broadcasts of the Eurovision Network and the European Broadcasting Union. He dominated the Baroque musical scene in seventeenth century France because of the quality of his prolific output. He mastered all genres, and his skill in writing sacred vocal music was especially hailed by his contemporaries.

Charpentier was born in or near Paris, the son of a master scribe who had very good connections to influential families in the Parlement of Paris. Marc-Antoine received a very good education, perhaps with the help of the Jesuits, and registered for law school in Paris when he was eighteen. He with Drew after one semester. He spent "two or three years" in Rome, probably between 1667 and 1669, and studied with Giacomo Carissimi. He is also known to have been in contact with poet-musician Charles Coypeau d'Assoucy, who was composing for the French Embassy in Rome. A legend claims that Charpentier initially traveled to Rome to study painting before he was discovered by Carissimi. This story is undocumented and possibly untrue; at any rate, although his 28 volumes of autograph manuscripts reveal considerable skill at tracing the arabesques used by professional scribes, they contain not a single drawing, not even a rudimentary sketch. Regardless, he acquired a solid knowledge of contemporary Italian musical practice and brought it back to France.

He composed secular works, stage music, operas, cantatas, sonatas, symphonies, as well as sacred music, motets (large or small), oratorios, masses, psalms, Magnificats, Litanies. At his death, Charpentier's complete works must have numbered about 800 opus numbers, but today only 28 autograph volumes remain, or more than 500 pieces that he himself took care to classify. This collection, called Blends, i s one of the most comprehensive sets of musical autograph manuscripts of all time.

David et Jonathas (David and Jonathan), H. 490, is an opera in five acts and a prologue by the French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier, first performed at the Collège Louis-le-Grand, Paris, on 28 February 1688. The libretto, by Father François Bretonneau, is based on the Old Testament story of the friendship between David and Jonathan. Although the opera takes the form of a typical French tragédie en musique it has also been referred to as a tragédie biblique because of its Biblical subject matter. David et Jonathas was first performed at a Jesuit college in combination with a spoken drama in Latin, Saul, by Father Étienne Chamillard (1656–1730). Each act of the opera was followed by one act from the play. Charpentier's work was so successful, it was reprised at other Jesuit colleges in 1706, 1715 and 1741.

Source: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_et_Jonathas).


Although originally composed for Voices, Orchestra & Continuo, I created this Interpretation of the "Finale" from "David et Jonathas" (H. 490 Mvt. 50) for Winds (Flute, Oboe, French Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).