Emma Kirkby, Agnès Mellon, Charles Medlam, Terence Charlston - COUPERIN - LALANDE: Lecon de Tenebres (2007) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. 3 Lecons de Tenebres: Premiere Lecon de Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint
02. 3 Lecons de Tenebres: Seconde Lecon de Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint
03. 3 Lecons de Tenebres: Troisieme Lecon de Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint
04. Troisieme Lecon de Tenebres Du Mercredi Saint, S118
05. Troisieme Lecon de Tenebres Du Mercredi Saint, S124



The Leçons de Ténèbres gathered here are some of the finest in the genre. By the time of Couperin and Lalande, a practice of singing the Lamentations of Jeremiah during Holy Week had been established in which the text was divided into nine ‘lessons’ sung over three days, with one candle of a special candelabra being extinguished after each lesson, until ‘tenebrae’ or darkness was achieved on Good Friday. The three Leçons by François Couperin, composed for the royal monastery of Longchamp c. 1714, are highly regarded. (Couperin himself at one time referred to a full set of nine lessons, but only the three for Holy Wednesday are known today.) Couperin, named ‘Organiste du Roi’ in 1693, was the colleague of de Lalande, ‘Maître de Chapelle’ at the French court, whose own Leçons were composed for the royal chapel.

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