Concert
Requiem for the Kings of France
Eustache du Caurroy’s Missa pro Defunctis is undoubtedly the most famous requiem mass of the Ancien Régime.
Tradition has it that it was performed for the funeral of Henry IV in 1610, although there is no documentary evidence to support this. Later, in his Catalogue, Sébastien de Brossard stated that it had become the official requiem of the kings of France.
The Mass for the repose of the souls of the dead, sung by the King’s Chapel, carried with it all the emotion and fervour of the whole of France.
Cast
Philippe Vallepin, narrator
Anne Delafosse, soprano
Paulin Bündgen, alto
Hugues Primard, tenor
Marc Mauillon, baritone
Marc Busnel, bass
Judith Pacquier, cornett
Elsa Frank, shawms, dulcinas, recorders
Francis Mercet, shawms, dulcinas, recorders
Jérémie Papasergio, shawms, dulcinas, recorders
Franck Poitrineau, sackbut
Bruno Caillat, percussions
Denis Raisin Dadre, shawms, dulcinas, recorders and artistic direction
In the Press
“ Denis Raisin Dadre and the musicians of his ensemble Doulce Mémoire arrived in procession from the back of the basilica. There was a strange solemnity in this cortege of Renaissance wind instruments, led by the steady beating of a drum. […] This is music of consolation, sensual and soothing, an almost intimate work […].”
Le Monde, Marie-Aude Roux