Gwendoline Blondeel and Nicholas Scott perform Campra’s ‘Requiem’ with Les Arts Florissants
Requiem by André Campra
11th November | 8.30pm
Gwendoline Blondeel and Nicholas Scott perform Requiem by André Campra with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants at Chapelle Royale, Versailles, France.
William Christie - Musical direction
Les Arts Florissants - Choir and orchestra
Cast
Gwendoline Blondeel - dessus
Nicholas Scott - haute-contre
Zachary Wilder - taille
Marc Mauillon - basse-taille
Composer Spotlight
André Campra (1660-1744), a renowned composer and choirmaster at the cathedrals around France, he wrote this Requiem Mass shortly after his arrival in Paris in 1694 while directing the choir of Notre Dame. Composed for a service in memory of the Archbishop of Paris, Monseigneur François de Harlay in November 1695. This mass is part of a period when Campra's religious music was reaching its full maturity: the traditional polyphony is treated with the same expressiveness as solo arias, which hinted at the composer's taste for opera. It was at this time that Campra began writing his opera-ballet L'Europe galante. The instrumental passages, far from being simple preludes, interludes, or postludes, also demonstrated a sense of the sensitivity of the future sub-master of the Chapelle Royale of Versailles.