Charpentier: Messe Rouge

‘Everything is Red : The Effect is Magnificent’ (Dumas)

The glorious ‘Red Mass’ of Scarlet clad judges and clergy benefited from some of the finest music penned by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, during his tenure at Saint-Chapelle in Paris. We take his great Motet for that day (Motet pour une longue offerande) and perhaps his finest Mass, the Missa Assumpta est Maria, and situate them in the liturgical context of this extraordinary occasion. The music is far more than a pompous ceremonial background, with the Mass being kaleidoscopic (perhaps reflecting to windows and colours of Saint-Chapelle itself), and the motet depicting the judgment of God amidst hailstones and sulphur. Together with a Te Deum, Elevation, Psalms and Hymns and other liturgical repertoire, the musical magnificence of one of history’s most remarkable Mass Settings will be brought to life anew.