4.7.13

Like a few centuries ago (3)


As a little addendum to my recent posts about Versailles (“Like a few centuries ago 1” and “Like a few centuries ago 2”) I would like to report about two concerts that I recently attended at the Royal Chapel.

One was with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, directed by Sir John Elliot Gardiner. We listened to Bach’s Easter and Ascension oratorios.

Another day I attended a concert, “Magnificat Jubilate”, with La Capella Real de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations, directed by Jordi Savall and we could listen to works by Lully, Bach, Händel, Vivaldi.

If you like this kind of music (which I do)… this is certainly the perfect place to listen to it, performed by these outstanding artists.

A few words about the Royal Chapel:  It was finished only in 1710, when Louis XIV had only five years to live. The architect, as for other large parts of the Versailles castle, was Jules Hardouin-Mansart, after his death in 1708 finished by his brother-in-law. (Hardouin-Mansart was also the architect of the Invalides Royal Chapel, Place Vendôme, Place des Victoires, the Saint-Roch church…). The Chapel was then used daily for the king’s mass and until the Revolution also for Royal religious ceremonies of all kinds – baptisms, weddings (e.g. Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette) … .  You can imagine François Couperin playing on the Cliquot  organ…




         
The Jordi Savall concert was broadcast on the French / German TV channel “Arte” and is today available on YouTube.


To give you a taste of the Sir John Elliot Gardiner concert, here you can listen to another Bach oratorio, the Christmas one.
    

10 comments:

Olivier said...

waouhh cela devait etre magnifique

martinealison said...

Bonjour cher Peter,

Une publication grandiose ! Dommage que le son de mon pc ne soit pas à la hauteur !
Ecouter une si belle musique dans un cadre aussi majestueux c'est divin !
Tes photos sont extraordinaires, merci pour le partage.

Gros bisous

Starman said...

when the architects designed these fantastic buildings, they took into consideration the acoustics, because all the concerts I've heard in them (and there have been many) have been brilliant..

claude said...

Un endroit vraiment magnifique.
Lulli et Bach, dans le genre, mes préférés.
Quel post somptueux, Peter ! Grand merci !

Anonymous said...

Absolutely fantastic!

The luminosity of your photos has

not faded through the years.

Thank you so much for showing us

this marvel like no one else...

Maria O. Russell

Catherine said...

sounds wonderful to hear that music and attend those concerts in such a wonderful venue....

M said...

Magnifique!!! What a wonderful venue for such beautiful music! thank you for this fantastic post!

Daryl said...

wow.. these are all magnificent

hpy said...

Il y a un concert à la plage de Fécamp demain soir. Tu viens?

Jeanie said...

Wow -- I would love this music, but I think I would love the setting either more -- I have a feeling that your photos are only the beginning!