Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era

From its establishment at Saint-Cyr in 1686 until it was closed during the French Revolution, the Maison royal de Saint-Louis held a unique position in French society. Organized by Madame de Maintenon and supported by her husband, Louis XIV, this royal institution raised and educated daughters of impoverished nobility who had served the crown. The convent school remained in close contact with the court at nearby Versailles and received frequent visits by the king. Music played an important role in the education and spiritual life of the girls; much of the surviving music that was written for Saint-Cyr consists of chants and motets for the mass, the offices, and the para-liturgical service of Salut. Saint-Cyr was fortunate to have had two fine composers as their first music masters and organists; Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers (ca. 1632-1714) provided the plainchant for the mass and offices and began a strong tradition of motet composition, while Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (1676-1749) greatly expanded the institution’s repertoire of motets. The less well-known music masters who came after relied on the textures and styles of these first two composers for their contributions to the repertory. The motets presented in this edition are drawn from sources that were used at Saint-Cyr, both printed editions as well as manuscripts that have been preserved in the Bibliothèque municipale of Versailles. Because most of the motets from Saint-Cyr survive without basse continue parts, bass lines for a number of the pieces have been reconstructed using both contemporary models and instructions by Clérambault.

Music Sample

Contents:
1. Ave verum corpus (1), Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers
2. Ave verum corpus (2), Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers
3. O sacramentum pietatis (1), Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers
4. O sacramentum pietatis (2), Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers
5. O sacramentum sacramentorum (1), Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers
6. O sacramentum sacramentorum (2), Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers
7. Habemus pontificem, Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers
8. Descendite, accurite, Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers
9. Lætare mater amabilis, Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers
10. Exsulta et lauda, Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers
11. Domine, ante te omne, Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers
12. Quam pulchra es, Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers
13. Respexit Elias, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
14. Hodie Christus natus est, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
15. Ante thronum trinitatis, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
16. O Rex gloriæ, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
17. Panis candidissime, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
18. O salutaris hostia, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
19. Omnis gloria, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
20. Nimis honorati sunt (1), Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
21. Nimis honorati sunt (2), Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
22. Cognosce panem anima mea, Clérambault, fils [César-Francois-Nicolas]
23. O salutaris hostia, Clérambault, fils [César-Francois-Nicolas]
24. Domine, salvum fac regem, Clérambault, fils [César-Francois-Nicolas]
25. Exaudiat te Dominus (1), Guilleminot DuGué
26. Exaudiat te Dominus (2), Guilleminot DuGué
27. Domine, salvum fac regem, Guilleminot DuGué
28. Domine, salvum fac regem, Jean-Baptiste-Louis Thomelin