Charpentier: Messe De Minuit Pour Noel / Te Deum
) | Label: NAXOS Catalog: 8557229 Format: CD The French Noël represents a tradition of popular Christmas celebration that developed from its earlier 16th-century origins into a very extensive repertoire of carols, some derived melodically from plainchant and others from secular melodies. Charpentier used this material in his Messe de Minuit (Midnight Mass), written perhaps for Christmas 1694, and in instrumental arrangements from the late 1680s or early 1690s. The mass is scored for four-part choir, soloists, flutes, strings, and continuo, and uses ten popular carol tunes, in the tradition of the earlier parody mass. Price: $19.98 |