Marc-Antoine Charpentier - Biography
Marc-Antoine Charpentier(not to be confused with the composer of opera Louise Gustave Charpentier from more than 200 years later) one of the leading composers of the French Baroque was born possibly in 1643 near Paris and died in Paris on February 23rd 1704. As indicated by the approximation of his birth date we don’t have a baptismal record of his birth we do know that his father was a scribe for the French Parliament He evidently had a solid Jesuitical education and a possible career in the law was circumvented when in his early twenties he went to Rome and studied with celebrated composer Carissimi. After a few years of instruction he returned to Paris where he became a composer in residence for the Duchess de Guise a Parisian aristocrat. Charpentier wrote a number of sacred choral works for her; settings of the Psalms, Masses, and Motets along a number of secular vocal works. All in all he was in the service of Mille. De Guise for a period of 17 years. His ambitions as an opera composer were evidently thwarted by the influence of Jean Baptiste Lully the foremost operatic composer of the time.
Mlle. Guise died in 1688 and it was at the time Charpentier was employed by the Jesuits. Charpentier composed some incidental music for the plays of Moliere after Lully had a falling out with the playwright. Charpentier after Moliere’s death continued to write incidental music for prominent French playwrights like Corneille. Charpentier also wrote music for Louis the Fourteenth’s son the Dauphin. In the mid 1780’s Charpentier had a serious illness and was not able to work for a period of time he recovered and lived for an additional twenty years. While Charpentier was in the service for the Jesuits he worked in the key Jesuitical center; the Church of Saint-Louis. During this period Charpentier during this period concentrated on writing mostly sacred music Charpentier was eventually elevated to the prestigious position of Master of Music at the Sainte- Chapelle Royale in 1698 a royal appointment that he held for the remaining six years of his life. A minor musical tragedy is that most of the music Charpentier wrote during this period has not survived because the church felt music written for them was a commodity and could be destroyed when the composer was no longer around (in fact it is amazing how much of Charpentier’s work survives considering how much has been lost).Charpentier died in the Chapelle Royal in 1704.
It is difficult to advocate for a Seventeenth Century French Baroque composer of primarily religious music but Charpentier is actually an accessible and enjoyable composer. Due to the advocacy of conductors such as William Christie and recording companies like Harmonia Mundi, Erato and Virgin Veritas there are many distinguished recordings of his music on the market.
