St. Barnabas Choral Scholars - François Couperin: Leçons de Ténèbres

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Saturday, April 9th, 2022
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

The St. Barnabas Choral Scholars will perform François Couperin: Leçons de Ténèbres. 

Featuring:

Gwen Jamieson, soprano

Anna van der Hooft, soprano

Jan van der Hooft, tenor

Martin Bonham, viola da gamba

Marco Vitale, harpsichord and music direction

Tickets available at www.saltspringbaroque.com or at the door.

Couperin’s surviving church music is a complete contrast to that which was usually performed at Versailles, closer to the Italian music of Carissimi and his French pupil Marc-Antoine Charpentier than to the motets of Lalande and Lully. The ‘Trois Leçons de Ténèbres’ were amongst the small amount of Couperin’s ecclesiastical music that was published during his lifetime. The name ‘Tenebrae’ probably refers to the darkness that gradually spread during the service. The text, from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, was traditionally sung at Matins on Maundy Thursday, with other sections of the Lamentations performed on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, making a total of nine Leçons. Couperin’s Leçons are intensely personal, depicting Jeremiah’s bitter anguish in settings that are quite unique. The music has, within its own self-imposed limits, an intensity and power rarely found in baroque sacred music.