musica Dei donum
CD reviews
André CAMPRA, Nicolas BERNIER: Venite, exultemus
Romain Bockler, baritone
Concerto Soave
Dir: Jean-Marc Aymes
rec: Oct 2024, Beaulieu, Église Notre-Dame
Ricercar - RIC 481 (© 2025) (67'43")
Liner-notes: E/F; lyrics - translations: E/F
Cover, track-list & booklet
Scores Bernier
Scores Campra
Spotify
Nicolas BERNIER (1664-1734):
Alma redemptoris mater, Mottet pour la Sainte Vierge [3];
Judica me Deus, Mottet à voix seule avec symphonie [5];
Venite, exultemus, Mottet pour tous les temps à voix seule avec Symphonie [3];
André CAMPRA (1660-1744):
Laudate Dominum, Motet à voix seule et deux dessus de violons [2];
Venite, exultemus, Septième Motet à voix seule, et Symphonie [6];
Pierre DU MAGE (1674-1751):
Plein jeua [4];
Nicolas LEBÈGUE (1630-1702):
Prélude du 5e tona [1];
Prélude du 6e tona [1];
Louis MARCHAND (1669-1732):
Fond d'orguea
Sources:
[1] Nicolas Lebègue, Premier livre des pièces d'orgues, 1676;
[2] André Campra, Motets de une à trois voix..., Livre Deuxième, 1699;
[3] Nicolas Bernier, Premier Livre de Motets de une à trois voix, 1703;
[4] Pierre du Mage, Premier Livre d'Orgue, 1708;
[5] Nicolas Bernier, Deuxième Livre de Motets de une à trois voix, 1713;
[6] André Campra, Motets de une à trois voix..., Livre Cinquième, 1720
Simon Pierre, Gabriel Ferry, violin;
Flore Seube, viola da gamba;
Ulrik Larsen, theorbo;
Jean-Marc Aymes, harpsichord, organ (soloa)
From the mid-17th century until the French Revolution the motet was one of the main genres of sacred music in France. Motets came in two forms. The grand motet was a work for solo voices, choir and orchestra. Such pieces were mostly intended for the Royal Chapel, which explains why they were not published. The main composers of grands motets were Jean-Baptiste Lully and Michel-Richard de Lalande. The former's motets were never published, the latter's only after his death in a complete edition, probably as a token of appreciation. The second form was the petit motet, scored for solo voice(s) and basso continuo, often with additional instruments in the treble range (symphonie), mostly violins and/or transverse flutes. Such pieces were published, as they were more suitable for churches and chapels with limited forces. The motets performed on the disc to be reviewed here are all taken from collections printed at the composers' lifetime.
André Campra and Nicolas Bernier were contemporaries, but had different careers. Campra began ecclesiastical studies in 1678. In the 1680s he acted as maître de chapelle in Arles and maître de musique in Toulouse. In 1694 he was given four month's leave in Paris, but did not return to Toulouse. That year he was appointed maître de musique at Notre Dame cathedral. From an early age Campra was highly interested in the Italian style. He didn't hide his sympathies when he introduced violins to support the choir of Notre-Dame. It was almost inevitable that the music theatre exerted an attraction on him. In 1697 L'Europe Galante, his first opéra-ballet, was performed. The clergy's opposition to the stage was the reason Campra tried to hide his involvement in operatic performances. But as his forays into the operatic scene were successful, he decided to leave his post at the Notre Dame and to concentrate on opera. He benefitted from the climate under the regency of Philippe of Orléans, when there was more openness towards opera and the influence of the Italian style.
The two petits motets included here are from different stages in his career. Laudate Dominum de caelis, a setting of Psalm 148, is taken from the second book of motets of 1699, when he was still maître de musique at Notre Dame cathedral. In his compositions he showed his skill "in blending Italian music so agreeably with that of France. A great many people come every Saturday at half past three to hear the motet sung before the Chapel of the Virgin", according to a contemporary source. This motet attests to that observation. The second section, with basso continuo alone, opens with a recitativic episode; in the second episode the word "non" is emphasized through repetition. In the next section Campra does not miss the opportunities for text expression: "Praise the Lord from the earth, you dragons and all deeps: Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy winds all fulfil his word", and that also goes for the next section, on the words "serpents, and flying fowl".
In the 1720s Campra returned to the composition of sacred music. He published his fifth book of motets for one to three voices and basso continuo in 1720, fourteen years after the previous book. From this book his setting of Psalm 94, Venite exultemus, is selected. Whereas in Laudate Dominum in caelis the instrumental scoring is specified as two dessus de violons, here the voice is accompanied by symphonie. According to Nathalie Berton-Blivet, in her liner-notes, two violins and two transverse flutes are required (although Campra does not specify whether he means transverse flutes or recorders), but the latter are absent here. It is a typical example of liner-notes which are not related to the actual performance. That is especially odd in the case of the verses six and seven, where it is observed that the flute is "often associated with scenes of lamentation and veneration to which the sweetness of the timbre lends itself admirably well." In this performance we have to do it without the flutes. The Italian leanings of Campra come to the fore in this piece again, for instance in the use of coloratura on specific words, such as "exultemus" and "jubilemus".
Whereas Campra is pretty well represented on disc, and several recordings are devoted to his petits motets, Nicolas Bernier has received far less attention, although he is certainly not a forgotten composer. Especially his contributions to the genre of the secular cantata have been recorded.
Bernier was born in Mantes-la-Jolie, northwest of Paris, and probably received his first musical education in the maîtrise of the collegiate church of Notre Dame there and in that of the Cathedral of nearby Evreux. He then studied with Antonio Caldara in Rome. From 1694 to 1698 he was head of the maîtrise of Chartres Cathedral and then was appointed in the same position at St Germain-l'Auxerrois in Paris. A token of the appreciation of his activities as a composer was his appointment as maître de musique of the Sainte Chapelle, as successor to Marc-Antoine Charpentier. From 1723 until his death Bernier also acted as one of the sous-maîtres de musique of the Chapelle Royale. As a composer, he contributed to both religious and secular music. He published two books of petits motets, wrote a number of grands motets, a set of nine Leçons de ténèbres, a Mass and a Te Deum; the latter two works have been lost. Bernier was also one of the first who devoted himself to the chamber cantata: he published seven books of cantatas and a single cantata, bringing the total to 39. In this genre he mixed the traditional French style with Italian influences.
The latter feature connects him with Campra, and that is the reason the two composers are brought together on this disc. From Bernier's oeuvre we get another setting of Psalm 94. In her liner-notes Nathalie Berton-Blivet almost entirely focuses on a comparison of the two settings, but completely ignores the other items; that seems a bit overdone. The comparison is interestng, though, as it makes clear the similarities - often 'commonplaces' (in the neutral sense of the word) of the baroque idiom - and differences. One of the latter, for instance, is the illustration of the waves of the sea in the fifth verse ("For the sea is his"). Whereas in Campra's setting "repeated quavers alternating with groups of eight semiquavers that represent the waves, sometimes calm and sometimes more impetuous (...). Bernier entrusts the accompaniment of this verse to the two violins and evokes the sea with long vocalisations, the most important of which is taken up in imitation by the instruments in a very lively and musically dense section." In the verses 6 and 7 Bernier also uses flutes, but - as mentioned - these are absent here. The word "ploremus" is set to descending figures with chromaticism - a clear token of Bernier's Italian leanings.
These also manifest themselves in the coloratura in Alma redemptoris mater. The third work of Bernier's pen is Judica me Deus, a setting of a text that is numbered as 43 in the Hebrew Bible, but in the Vulgata is part of Psalm 42. Again, the voice is accompanied by symphonie. The text is divided into five sections. In the opening section the word "quare" (why) is emphasized, in rhetorical tradition. Bernier fully explores the contrast between the sections 3 and 4: "I will praise you on the lyre, o God, my God / why
are you sad, my soul? Why so disturbed within me?"
Whether these pieces are appearing on disc for the first time, I don't know. It would not surprise me. This recording shows that the genre of the petit motet deserves more attention, and that also goes for the oeuvre of Bernier in general. These performances are a strong case for both. The decision not to use transverse flutes, where the scores indicate them, is a little blot on this production. It does not compromise its value and my appreciation of the performances. I have heard Romain Bockler in renaissance music, for instance in recordings of the ensemble Dulces Exuviae. I like his voice in that repertoire, but he is equally at home in this much later music. The low voice plays a more important role in French than in Italian music - one of the differences between the two styles. However, the pieces by Campra and Bernier have marked Italian traits, and Bockler knows how to deal with them, for instance in the field of coloratura. The engaging and dynamically differentiated performances of the instrumentalists are a perfect complement.
Johan van Veen (© 2025)
Relevant links:
Romain Bockler
Concerto Soave