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Jean GILLES (1668 - 1705): Messe des morts
Eugénie Lefebvre, dessus;
Clément Debieuvre, haute-contre;
Sebastian Monti, taille;
David Witczak, basse-taille
Les Pages & Les Chantres du Centre de musique baroque de Versailles; Les Folies Françoises
Dir: Fabien Armengaud
rec: Dec 8 - 9, 2022, Versailles, Chapelle Royale
Château de Versailles Spectacles - CVS104 (© 2022) (63'37")
Liner-notes: E/D/F; lyrics - translations: E/D/F
Cover & track-list
Score Messe des morts
Spotify
Domine Deus meus;
Messe des morts
[LFF] Pierre Boragno, Maud Caille, transverse flute;
Nathalie Petibon, Olivier Clémence, oboe;
Arnaud Conde, bassoon;
Patrick Cohën-Akenine, Benjamin Chénier, Charles-Etienne Marchand, Anne-Claude Warlop Roca, Hisako Jin, Teeun Kim, violin;
Françoise Rojat, Jean-Luc Thonnerieux, viola;
Raphaël Moraly, Emanuele Abete, cello;
Franck Ratajczyk, double bass;
Pierre Rinderknecht, theorbo;
Valentin Rouget, organ
Jean Gilles was especially famous for his Messe des morts. In 1756 a French author wrote: "Today there is seldom a funeral service with music without a performance of Gilles's mass". Another French author stated: "The victim of death in the bloom of his years, he has caused us to mourn our loss by the pieces he left us. Gifted with the most fluent genius, he might have replaced the famous Lalande. The Diligam te and his Messe des Morts are two masterpieces". It is indeed very likely that if Gilles had lived longer he would have become much better known - and not just for his Requiem - and probably have been ranked among the very best composers of the French Baroque.
In contrast to many other composers Gilles didn't come from a musical family; his father was an illiterate labourer. In 1679 he entered the choir school of the Cathedral of St Sauveur at Aix-en-Provence, where he received his education from Guillaume Poitevin, who had also had been the teacher of André Campra. When Poitevin retired as maître de musique in 1693, Gilles succeeded him. In April 1695 he moved to Agde where he acquired the same position. Two years later he moved again, to Toulouse this time, where he was appointed maître de musique of the Cathedral of St Etienne. From his youth Gilles suffered from poor health, and therefore his early death could hardly have come as a surprise. The result is that his oeuvre is rather small, but any piece from it is of a substantial nature, and confirms the qualities which so prominently come to the fore in his Messe des morts.
The latter work gained a kind of cult status soon after it had been written. The exact reasons why Gilles composed this work are not clear. Julien Dubruque, in his liner-notes, refers to a story from well after Gilles's death, but he believes there is little truth in it. Fact is that it was first performed at Gilles's own death - according to his wish - and later at the funerals of, among others, Jean-Philippe Rameau and Louis XV in 1764 and 1774 respectively. It was also frequently performed at the Concert Spirituel: at least fifteen performances are documented between 1750 and 1770. In our time it is one of the best-known sacred works written in France in the early 18th century, and that is reflected by the recordings that are available.
The original score has been lost, and the present recording is based on a new edition, which is put together from several sources. Even the scoring as intended by Gilles is not known. The sources suggest a scoring that is not fundamentally different from what was common at the time: five-part vocal forces (dessus, haute-contre, haute-taille, basse-taille, basse), divided into soli and tutti, and a four-part orchestra; the string parts are divided into dessus, haute-contre, taille and basse de violon. Surprisingly, this seems to be ignored in the recording, as Les Folies Françoises consists of violins, violas, cellos and double bass. The use of cellos is particularly questionable as this Italian instrument was hardly known and used in France at the time Gilles composed his Requiem.
"What remains unknown is the nature of the woodwind doubling; a conservative approach would only use flutes (which in rare cases are mentioned as soloists in some sources) and bassoons in the choral and orchestral sections, but one cannot exclude oboes, other woodwinds, or even percussion: the Parisian tradition seems to have included a sort of drum prologue for a few bars." In this performance oboes are included, but there is no percussion.
The Requiem is written in the style of a grand motet, the main genre in sacred music at the time. The text is divided into sections, but these are mostly not allocated to a single voice, as was often the case in Italian Psalm settings. Most sections open with an episode for solo voice(s), after which the tutti enter, either repeating the text just sung by the solo voice(s) or the remaining text. In Gilles's Requiem the bass takes a special place, which is not surprising considering the text. An example is 'Domine Jesu Christe': "Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, liberate the souls of the faithful, departed from the pains of hell and from the bottomless pit." The opening of the work is charaterised by gravity: it is based on the plainchant melody of the Introitus, and has the form of a march, with dotted rhythms. The tenor then sings the opening line of the Introitus, keeping the gravity of the opening symphonie: "Grant them eternal rest, Lord". Then the tempo is speeding up for the second line, sung by the tutti: "and let perpetual light shine on them". At the end of the Introitus the tenor repeats the opening. In the gradual the word "non" - "he shall not fear the evil hearing" - is repeated a number of times by the tutti, emphasizing its importance. One of the features of Gilles's Requiem is the dramatic form of expression, which is in contrast to the best-known other Requiem from the French Baroque, the setting by André Campra.
In addition to the Messe des morts, which has been recorded a number of times, we get here a first recording of Domine Deus meus, a setting of Psalm 7. Like the Requiem, this grand motet opens with a symphonie. Then the tenor sings the first half of the first section, after which the tutti enter. In the next section the text "let him tread my life down upon the earth" is illustrated by staccato figures in the orchestra. The word "exsurge" (Arise, [o Lord, in thy wrath]) is set to a steeply rising figure. The sixth section is a récit for basse-taille, and has a belligerent character, reflecting the text: "If he does not relent, he will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow. He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows." Descending figures illustrate the text of the eighth section: "Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made."
This work confirms the reputation of Gilles as a brilliant and expressive composer. It is great that this work is now available on disc. However, I am rather disappointed about the performances of this work and the Requiem. In 2021 Fabien Armengaud succeeded Olivier Schneebeli as conductor of the Maîtrise du Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, which is an excellent ensemble, as it shows here once again. I already mentioned the questionable line-up of the orchestra. Nevertheless, Les Folies Françoises plays very well. The problem are the soloists. The dramatic features come off pretty well, but I would have liked sweeter voices than those of Sebastian Monti and David Witczak; both also use too much vibrato. Eugénie Lefebvre is even worse, which is especially damaging the ensembles. Clément Debieuvre is the best of the four.
In the case of Domine Deus meus there is no alternative. The Messe des morts is available in better recordings. My favourite interpretation is the one under the direction of Jean-Marc Andrieu (Lidia Digital, 2008).
Johan van Veen (© 2024)
Relevant links:
Clément Debieuvre
Eugénie Lefebvre
David Witczak
Les Pages & Les Chantres du Centre de musique baroque de Versailles
Les Folies Françoises