“Even if we can assume that the prince was assisted by Gervais, his compositional master, this Suite d’Armide reveals a definite talent, great sensitivity, a real mastery of compositional techniques, but above all great originality, both in form and inspiration.”
Thomas Leconte — Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles
La Jérusalem délivrée ou La Suite d’Armide, a musical tragedy in a prologue and five acts by the future Regent Philippe d’Orléans, was composed in the early 18th century and performed by the King’s Band at Fontainebleau, in the château’s Galerie des cerfs, on October 17, 1712, probably in the presence of Louis XIV. Philippe d’Orléans’s music master at the time was the composer Charles-Hubert Gervais, a remarkable musician who shared with his pupil a pronounced taste for the Italian style. In 1705, with the help of the same Gervais, Philippe d’Orléans had already had another opera, Penthée, performed at the Palais-Royal. The two works share many common features, starting with a highly atypical style and orchestration, far removed from what was then heard at the Académie royale de musique. Seduced by this previously unpublished score, Leonardo García-Alarcón and his musicians took up the challenge and recreated the work for the CVS label.
Chœur de chambre de Namur
Thibaut Lenaerts – choir master
Cappella Mediterranea
Leonardo García-Alarcón, musical direction
Release on March, 14th on Château de Versailles Spectacles label
