LA DESCENTE D’ORPHÉE AUX ENFERS & LES ARTS FLORISSANTS

The patience of a genius
Cast into the shadows by the suspicious distrust of Jean-Baptiste Lully, the Florentine-born musician who made the Sun King dance and weep and was the father of the French ‘Tragédie Lyrique’, Marc-Antoine Charpentier had to wait for Lully's death to see his works performed on stage with royal support. In the meantime, he moulded his genius to the possibilities offered by Louis XIV's cousin, Marie de Lorraine, Duchess of Guise, who became his patron. She opened her urban palace in the Marais district of Paris to him and placed at his disposal the select group of musicians in her chapel, comprising eight to ten instrumentalists and singers, of whom he himself was one. In honour of the Duchess's good taste, Charpentier dedicated a large group of allegorical and pastoral works to her, which were performed in the salons of her palace until her death in 1688. Les arts florissants is one of these allegories, adopted by William Christie as the name for his musical ensemble. It presents a dialogue between the arts and the forces of life – peace and war – in praise of the Duchess's lineage and the good name of the King, the maker of peaceful battles. Between 1686 and 1687, Charpentier composed La descente d'Orphée aux enfers, a work in two acts (the libretto includes a third, the music of which has been lost) in which he depicts the death of the mythical singer, devoured by the furious Maenads.