musica Dei donum
CD reviews
Louis-Nicolas CLÉRAMBAULT (1676 - 1749): Te Deum, Histoire de la femme adultère
Gwendoline Blondeel, dessus;
Reinoud Van Mechelen, haute-contre;
Guy Cutting, taille;
Lisandro Abadie, Samuel Namotte, basse-taille
Choeur de Chambre de Namur; a nocte temporis
Dir: Reinoud Van Mechelen
rec: August 6 - 11, 2024, [n.p.]
Château de Versailles Spectacles - CVS163 (© 2025) (58'36")
Liner-notes: E/D/F; lyrics - translations: E/D/F
Cover, track-list & booklet
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L'histoire de la femme adultère (C. 191);
Te Deum à grand choeur (C. 138)
[CCN] Julie Calbete, Elke Janssens, Éléonore Marmoret, Pauline de Lannoy, Barbara Menier, Zoé Pireaux, soprano;
Dominique Bonnetain, Sean Clayton, Branislav Rakic, Marcio Soares Holanda, haute-contre;
Nicolas Bauchau, Amaury Lacaille, Vincent Mahiat, Jean-Yves Ravoux, tenor;
Pieter Coene, Étienne Debaisieux, Simon Dubois, Samuel Namotte, bass
[ANT] Anna Besson, Sien Huybrechts, transverse flute;
Julian Zimmermann, trumpet;
Joanna Huszcza, Marrie Mooij, Isabelle Verachtert, Izana Soria, Birgit Goris, Ingrid Bourgeois, violin;
Kaori Uemura, viola da gamba;
Édouard Catalan, cello;
Elise Christiaens, double bass;
Stan Geudens, theorbo;
Marc Meisel, harpsichord, organ;
Koen Plaetinck, timpani
Louis-Nicolas Clérambault was one of the main composers in France in the first half of the 18th century. He contributed to several genres but that is hardly reflected by the recordings of his music. He is best-known for his secular cantatas, among them especially Médée and Orphée, and for his keyboard works, comprising two suites for organ and two for harpsichord. Sacred music takes a substantial place in his oeuvre: among his nearly 250 compositions 133 are sacred pieces. Little of that part of his oeuvre is available on disc, and from that perspective each recording of his sacred works is most welcome.
Clérambault was born in 1676 in Paris in a musical family whose members had served the kings of France since the 15th century. His father Dominique was a violinist and a member of the 24 violons du roi. Louis-Nicolas probably received his first music lessons from him. His organ teacher was André Raison, to whom he dedicated his Livre d'orgue. The latter and his motets and other sacred vocal works were probably mostly written for the Maison Royale St-Louis de Saint-Cyr - a village west of Versailles - which opened in 1686 and was designed to educate daughters of impoverished army officers and noblemen. Here Clérambault became organist and maître de musique in March 1715. In this post he succeeded Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers, who had died the previous year. The latter was also organist of the church of Saint Sulpice in Paris, and Clérambault succeeded him in this position as well. He had been Nivers' assistant in both positions for some years.
The present disc brings together two very different works. It opens with L'histoire de la femme adultère, which belongs among the genre of the oratorio. It is the only piece of this kind in Clérambault's oeuvre; the time of composition is not known, but it dates from before 1724/25, as it is included in the catalogue Sébastien de Brossard made of the compositions in his possession, which dates from those years. Whereas in Italy the oratorio was a very important genre, which was seen by the church as a perfect instrument to spread its message, and in the course of time developed into the sacred counterpart of opera, in France it was largely neglected.
Marc-Antoine Charpentier spent some time in Rome, where he became acquainted with the oratorios by Giacomo Carissimi, which strongly influenced him, and inspired him to compose such works, known as histoires sacrées. Hardly any composer followed his example, although some wrote sacred cantatas which have some similarity with his oratorios, such as Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre. Clérambault's oratorio is very similar to Charpentier's histoires sacrées and through them with Carissimi's oratorios. It has several roles, one of which is that of the historicus, which is also a key figure in a number of Carissimi's oratorios.
The story is taken from the 8th chapter of the Gospel after St John, which tells how the scribes and Pharisees bring a woman caught in adultery before Jesus, seeking to test him. They quote the Law of Moses, which prescribes stoning for adultery, and ask Jesus what he thinks should be done. Jesus responds by telling the accusers that whoever has not sinned can cast the first stone. After a moment of reflection, the accusers leave one by one, and Jesus is left alone with the woman. He then tells her that he does not condemn her and instructs her to "go and sin no more". As was common use, the story as told by John is treated with some freedom. Here, for instance, Jesus supports the arguments of the scribes and Pharisees: "Adultery is a shameful crime. (...) Nature abhors vile adultery, and condemns it with just severity." It is only after they ask him what should be done, that his words from the Gospel are quoted. Another addition is that here the woman expresses her sorrow: "O wretched woman! Lord, I have sinned against heaven and against you", and then asks for mercy. Then the end of the story is told, as Jesus asks her who has condemned her, and tells her to go in peace, with the warning not to sin anymore.
The solo of the woman is one of the most expressive parts of this short work, as are the two choruses. The first follows Jesus' judgement: "O how great are the riches of God's wisdom! How elusive are His judgements!" The second closes the work and sums up its moral: "How good is the God of Israel, who does not wish the death of the sinner, but rather that he change his ways and live!" This explains why this piece was intended for performance during Lent: this Gospel episode was read during mass on the third Sunday in Lent.
The second work on this disc, the Te Deum, is of a much later date. This text has been set many times in the course of history, and often such settings were written for and performed at special occasions. That was also the case here. The parish of Saint Sulpice, where Clérambault acted as organist, experienced the settlement of various religious communities during the 17th century. However, that did not go along with a spiritual growth: the clergy were poorly educated and priests were not very committed to their priesthood. This improved from the mid-17th century onwards, thanks to the work of Abbé Jean-Jacques Olier and his successors. It resulted in the construction of a new and larger church, but due to a lack of funds, only the lower chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, could be built. Jean-Baptiste Languet de Gergy, parish priest from 1714 to 1748, was able to collect donations, which allowed for the extension of the church. The construction was finished in 1745, and in July of that year this fact was celebrated. It is likely that on 7 July, during the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, Clérambault's Te Deum was performed.
An account of the celebrations says: "His Grace the Archbishop of Toulouse (...) intoned the Te Deum, which was taken up and sung by the
all the musicians and concluded with the oration Pro gratiarum actione. It could not have ended better than with this musical masterpiece, one of the most accomplished compositions by the renowned Clérambault." The same source says that "nearly one hundred musicians" were involved. With a choir of eighteen singers (6/6/4/4/4) and an instrumental ensemble of trumpet, timpani, two transverse flutes, six violins, cello, viola da gamba, double bass, theorbo and keyboard this performance is far away from the line-up of the performance in 1745. Even so, the effect it must have made comes off pretty well.
That is due in the first place to Clérambault's composition, which sheds light on his brilliance in writing sacred music, which has not been paid enough attention to. The text could be divided into different sections, and each composer made his own decisions in this regard. Clérambault's setting, which is inspired by an earlier and much more modest setting (Te Deum à trois parties, 1701), is divided into 19 sections of different scorings. As one may expect, the opening and closing verses require the participation of the trumpet and timpani. The verses in between are scored for soli and tutti with flutes and violins. There is quite some stylistic variety. Clérambault makes use of the typical French form of the rondeau, for instance in the prélude and in the penultimate section, 'Dignare, Domine'. Four sections form a rondeau, the first of which, 'Te per orbem terrarum', is the refrain. In Salvum fac Clérambault turns to the Italian form of the da capo. In several sections he makes use of ostinato motifs. In the tutti sections he shows his command of counterpoint.
There are also differences in Affekt, due to the contrasts in the text. Some verses worship God's majesty: "To thee Cherubin and Seraphin: continually do cry, Holy, Holy, Holy: Lord God of Sabaoth; Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory." Obviously such sections are set in an exuberant manner. However, the Te Deum also includes prayers, such as 'Te ergo quaesumus': "We therefore pray thee, help thy servants: whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood." Here Clérambault's setting is more intimate and reflective.
This disc is an impressive testimony of Clérambault's qualities in the field of sacred music, and that is also due to the quality of the performances. In 2021 I had the opportunity to hear a live performance by the same ensemble in the Utrecht Early Music Festival. My positive impressions of music and performance are confirmed here. The line-up may be much more modest than in 1745, the Te Deum makes quite an impression, and that also goes - in a different way - for the oratorio. It is regrettable that Clérambault has not written more oratorios and sacred works in the style of grands motets. That makes this disc all the more important. The soloists are excellent; only a few have extended solo parts in the Te Deum, such as Reinoud Van Mechelen and Guy Cutting, and in the oratorio Gwendoline Blondeel, whose performance of the role of the adulterous woman is very expressive. The instrumental parts are perfectly executed.
This disc deserves an unequivocal recommendation. Let's hope more of Clérambault's sacred music is going to be performed and recorded in the near future.
Johan van Veen (© 2025)
Relevant links:
Lisandro Abadie
Gwendoline Blondeel
Guy Cutting
Samuel Namotte
A Nocte Temporis