Pièces En Trio In C Major
1 	Prelude 	2:05
2 	Sarabande 	1:37
3 	Sarabande 	1:38
4 	Fantaisie 	1:56
5 	Gavotte 	1:26
6 	La Bagatelle 	0:55
7 	Rondeau 	1:15
8 	Chaconne 	8:23
Suite In D Major 
9 	Prelude 	1:31
10 	Fantaisie 	0:43
11 	Allemande 	2:32
12 	Plainte 	4:20
13 	Charivary 	2:39
Pièces En Trio In E Minor 	
14 	Prelude 	2:50
15 	Rondeau 	1:54
16 	Sarabande En Rondeau 	1:52
17 	Menuet 	0:41
18 	Caprice 	2:42
19 	Pasacaille 	3:32
20 	Les Folies D'Espagne 	16:23

Ensemble – The Purcell Quartet:
Harpsichord – Robert Woolley
Viol [Viola Da Gamba] – Richard Boothby, William Hunt
Violin – Catherine Mackintosh, Elizabeth Wallfisch

This recording illustrates the two strands of Marais’ musical career. On the one hand he was the virtuoso viol player—‘an incomparable Parisian violist whose works are known all over Europe’, according to Johann Gottfried Walther’s Musikalisches Lexicon of 1732—and on the other he was a pupil of the great Lully, in whose style he composed several tragédies lyriques, including Alcyone, the storm scene of which inspired similar music from many other composers, not only in operas but in religious music too.

As a viol player, Marais studied principally with Ste Colombe, who was the finest French viol player of the seventeenth century, but about whom we know very little, not even his first name. Ste Colombe was credited with fitting the normally six-stringed instrument with a seventh, made possible by recent advances in string-making technology, taking the lowest note down to A below the bass stave. This seven-stringed instrument was then taken up by virtually all players in the coming years: most of Marais’ music requires it, and Bach uses it in the solo in the St Matthew Passion. Marais’ studies with Ste Colombe, however, were cut short after about six months as the master, who began to fear his position as top viol player might be usurped by the pupil, refused to continue with the young student. The story has it that Marais hid under the floorboards of the master’s summer pavilion in order to hear and see those finer points that were denied him. Ste Colombe’s fears were entirely justified—in 1676, at the age of just twenty, Marais became ‘Ordinaire de la chambre du Roi pour la viole’ and remained in royal service until 1725, three years before his death. He seems to have led an unexceptional life, writing over 550 pieces of exceptional music for his instrument. He fathered nineteen children.

The Suite in D major comes from the third book of ‘pièces de viole’ of 1711. In the Avertissement to this volume, Marais remarks that:

The most beautiful pieces completely lose their charm, if they are not executed in the style which is correct for them and, not being able to give a good idea of this style with the ordinary notation, I have been obliged to supply new marks that will express my wishes to those who will play my pieces. It is also à propos to inform the public that most of these pieces can be played on several other instruments, such as the Organ, the Harpsichord, the violin, the treble viol, the theorbo, the guitar, the flute, the recorder and the oboe.

The suites consist of many pieces—some dances, some character pieces—and are clearly not intended to be performed complete. The selection I have made from the wonderful Suite in D gives us a short, but very sweet Prelude; a shorter Fantaisie with the longest bowing slur Marais wrote (covering thirty-six notes); a characteristically powerful Allemande; the sublime Plainte, and Charivary which my dictionary tells me means ‘rough music, hubbub or clatter’.

Les folies d’Espagne come from the second book (1701). Marais tells us that the book was some time in coming to press as he worked hard at the basse continue of the volume and the engraving took a long time. It is therefore impossible that he could have heard Corelli’s ‘La Folia’ which had appeared in Rome in 1700 as part of the opus 5 solo violin sonatas, but all the more unusual that possibly the two finest of all ‘Folias’ should have been composed almost simultaneously. Instead of Corelli’s twenty-three variations Marais has thirty-two, but there is a similar integration of the bass part with the solo and full use is made of the viol’s superior chordal possibilities. The original dance must have been known to be from the Iberian peninsular—hence the title—and Marais on more than one occasion imbues variations with Hispanic flair, hinting occasionally at guitar strumming.

The other side of Marais’ output is illustrated by the two suites from his Pièces en trio pour les flûtes, violons et dessus de viole of 1692, which are credited as being the first trio sonatas published in France. In style, however, they owe everything to Lully. Lully himself only wrote the top two parts and bass of his orchestral music for the operas, leaving a pupil, such as Marais, to fill in the middle two viola parts according to the figures of the bass; and the stage never seems far away in these suites.

The Suite in C major, for example, starts with a Lullian French overture—majestic dotted notes and then a quicker three-time section—and ends with the traditional conclusion of the Lullian opera, the Chaconne, the signal for all those in the audience hitherto not paying attention to get to the front of their boxes in preparation for the applause, and in which all those characters on the stage still alive at the end of the drama join in a joyous dance. In its chamber music form, however, it becomes like the whole drama in miniature, with a dark and passionate minor section in the middle and many contrasting moods, affording Marais almost unending possibilities to display his invention.

The harmony throughout these suites, but particularly the Suite in E minor, is intense and sensuous, in marked contrast to the simplicity of the dance structures into which this molten passion is poured. The tension thus created can be electrifying. The structure of these movements is essentially repetitious and is notated in shorthand repeat signs. There is never any suggestion that these are at all optional, and we have observed them all, preferring to include fewer movements complete than more curtailed. This music embodies the values of the society which produced it, where time spent cultivating le bon goût in all forms of culture was not regarded as time wasted. On the contrary, in stark contrast to our own age (where to be busy is to be important, to be wanted), to have time to contemplate and cultivate the beautiful was the goal.

We can be reasonably certain that the pitch for chamber music in Paris in the second half of the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth centuries was around one tone below modern concert pitch. At this pitch strings speak slower, but the texture is lusher and more sonorous. Our tempi were influenced greatly by this fact. The harpsichord we have chosen is a copy of a double manual instrument by Louis Denis of 1667. The French seventeenth-century instruments are much smaller, and have a more exact sound than their more ubiquitous cousins by Taskin and the like from a century later. ---Richard Boothby, hyperion-records.co.uk

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Mr de Sainte-Colombe (XVIIe Siècle)
1 	'Chaconne Raportée' À Deux Violes Esgales (Extr. Concert XLVIIIe Siècle : 'Le Raporte')	5:20

Marin Marais (1656-1728)
2 	'Prélude En Harpègement' - Rondement (Extr. Ve Livre, 1725) 	2:35
3 	'Fantaisie' (Extr. IIIe Livre, 1711) 	1:02
4 	'Grand Ballet' (Extr. IIIe Livre, 1711) 	4:33
5 	'Caprice' Ou 'Sonate' - Lent, Très Légèrement (Extr. IVe Livre, 1717) 	4:37
6 	'Muzette' (Extr. IVe Livre, 1717) 	2:14
7 	'Couplets De Folies' (Extr. IIe Livre, 1701) 	16:44
8 	'La Rêveuse' (Extr. IVe Livre, 1717) 	5:15
9 	'Dialogue' - Légèrement (Extr. Ve Livre, 1725) 	3:02
10 	'Plainte' - Lentement (Extr. IIIe Livre, 1711) 	3:22
11 	'Chaconne' (Extr. Ve Livre, 1725) 	3:08
12 	'Tombeau Pour Mr De Sainte-Colombe' (Extr. IIe Livre, 1701) 	7:15

Guitar [Baroque Guitar] – Evangelina Mascardi (tracks: 2 to 11)
Harpsichord – Luca Guglielmi (tracks: 2 to 7, 9 to 11)
Theorbo, Guitar [Baroque Guitar] – Xavier Díaz (tracks: 2 to 12)
Viol [Basse De Viole] – Sophie Watillon, Friederike Heumann (tracks: 1 to 7, 9 to 11)

Today, as in his lifetime, Marin Marais is recognized as one of the great figures in the French school of bass viol players and composers of the Grand Siècle. Yet for nearly two centuries his name was forgotten, as was the instrument that brought him fame throughout Western Europe. It was until the twentieth century that Marin Marais and the bass viol were finally resusitated. Beautifully packaged and with extensive liner notes in French and English, Alpha Productions delivers yet another marvelous recording and artist. ---Editorial Reviews, amazon.com

This disc is up against some phenomenal competition. There are already magnificent recordings of Marais' music by giants of the gamba like Jordi Savall and Paulo Pandolfo. I was a bit dubious as to whether Sophie Watillon could in any way match these performances or bring anything new to the music, but she certainly does. I found this a delightful and engaging disc with real musical merit.

Sophie Watillon and her small ensemble play with genuine thoughtfulness and insight. Their technique is uniformly excellent and the performance has the feel of a chamber group with a fine rapport between them. The overall effect is very lovely, with the theorbo continuo an especially beautiful sound. They bring terrific feeling to Marais's music with real emotion in the Tombeau pour M. de Sainte Colombe, for example, and a verve and drive to the livelier pieces which makes them a delight.

With Alpha's excellent recorded sound and very attractive presentation this is an extremely fine disc all round and (rather against my initial expectations) I recommend it very warmly indeed. ---Sid Nuncius, amazon.com

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Disc: 1
1. Sémélé, opera: Prologue. Ouverture
2. Sémélé, opera: Prologue. Choeur. Accourons pour un Dieu nouveau
3. Sémélé, opera: Prologue. Marche d'Égipans et de Ménades
4. Sémélé, opera: Prologue. Duo et choeur. Le fils du maistre du tonnerre
5. Sémélé, opera: Prologue. Duo. Chantons ses glorieux exploits
6. Sémélé, opera: Prologue. Premier Air pour les Ménades
7. Sémélé, opera: Prologue. Deuxième Air pour les Mesmes
8. Sémélé, opera: Prologue. Air. Goûtons icy les plus doux charmes
9. Sémélé, opera: Prologue. Troisième Air pour les mesmes
10. Sémélé, opera: Prologue. Prélude et récit. O Ciel! quel est l'effet de ce nectar
11. Sémélé, opera: Prologue. Choeur. Courons les bois et les campagnes
12. Sémélé, opera: Prologue. Simphonie tendre et récit. Quel bruit nouveau
13. Sémélé, opera: Prologue. Récit. J'ayme à voir pour Bacchus
14. Sémélé, opera: Prologue. Choeur. Le fils du maistre du tonnerre (reprise)
15. Sémélé, opera: Prologue. Ouverture (reprise)
16. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. Récit. Ma fille, la victoire a nommé
17. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. Ritournelle et récit. Que vais-je devenir
18. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. Récit. Tu gémis vainement
19. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. Récit. Idas a pour vous plaire oublié ses Estats
20. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. Annonce et récit. Ce bruit annonce Adraste
21. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. Marche pour les Guerriers
22. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. Récit. Vous voyez les mutins captifs
23. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. Air et choeur. Que mon triomphe est glorieux
24. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. [Premier] Air pour les mesmes
25. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. Air. Tout tremble Dieu puissant
26. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. [Deuxième] Air pour des Guerriers
27. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. Air. Unissez vos coeurs et vos voix
28. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. Récit. Allons; pour mériter des victoires nouvelles
29. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. Choeur. Sous nos pas s'ébranle la terre
30. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. Récit. Mes premiers voeux
31. Sémélé, opera: Act 1. [Deuzième] Air des Guerriers (reprise)
32. Sémélé, opera: Act 2. Ritournelle et récit. La Princesse abandonne Idas
33. Sémélé, opera: Act 2. Ritournelle et récit. Quoy vous pouvez brizer
34. Sémélé, opera: Act 2. Air. Accurez, venez rendre hommage
35. Sémélé, opera: Act 2. Choeur. Secondez-nous, oyseaux de ces boccates
36. Sémélé, opera: Act 2. Chaconne
37. Sémélé, opera: Act 2. Récit. Quel spectacle vient me surprendre
38. Sémélé, opera: Act 2. Prélude et récit. Ciel, tout disparoit
39. Sémélé, opera: Act 2. Chaconne (reprise)

Disc: 2
1. Sémélé, opera: Act 3. Prélude et récit. Non, je ne doute plus
2. Sémélé, opera: Act 3. Récit et duo. Ne doutes point de ta vengeance
3. Sémélé, opera: Act 3. Prélude et récit. Tremble des maux qu'on te prépare
4. Sémélé, opera: Act 3. Air. Amour, régnez en paix
5. Sémélé, opera: Act 3. Récit. Quoy! Jupiter vous ayme
6. Sémélé, opera: Act 3. Prélude et récit. Terrible Roy des pâles ombres
7. Sémélé, opera: Act 3. Symphonie
8. Sémélé, opera: Act 3. Récit. Le charme est fait
9. Sémélé, opera: Act 3. Choeur et récit. Ordonne; nous obéissons
10. Sémélé, opera: Act 3. Air pour les Furies
11. Sémélé, opera: Act 3. Récit. Cesse; je ne puis plus résister
12. Sémélé, opera: Act 4. Ritournelle et récit. Apprends quel est le Dieu
13. Sémélé, opera: Act 4. Récit et air. Jupiter en ces lieux vient avec la Princesse
14. Sémélé, opera: Act 4. Marche pour les Bergers et choeur. Venez tendres bergers
15. Sémélé, opera: Act 4. Récit. Ces jeux répondent mal
16. Sémélé, opera: Act 4. Choeur. Icy chacun s'engage
17. Sémélé, opera: Act 4. Air pour les mesmes et choeur. Amoureux oiseaux
18. Sémélé, opera: Act 4. Récit. Ah! Sémélé, C'est trop allarmer
19. Sémélé, opera: Act 4. Récit. Eh bien si vous m'aimez
20. Sémélé, opera: Act 4. Passepied
21. Sémélé, opera: Act 5. Air. Descendez che amant
22. Sémélé, opera: Act 5. Récit. C'en est donc fait
23. Sémélé, opera: Act 5. Prélude et récit. Le souverain des Rois en ces lieux
24. Sémélé, opera: Act 5. Air. Qu'à mon zèle icy tout réponde
25. Sémélé, opera: Act 5. Choeur. Protège Dieu puissant
26. Sémélé, opera: Act 5. Récit et choeur. Tout tremble devaint toy
27. Sémélé, opera: Act 5. Air pour les Thébains et Thébaines
28. Sémélé, opera: Act 5. Tremblement de terre et choeur. Ciel! quel bruit souterrain
29. Sémélé, opera: Act 5. Récit. Peuples rassurez-vous
30. Sémélé, opera: Act 5. Prélude et choeur. Quels éclairs menaçants
31. Sémélé, opera: Act 5. Récit. Qu'attendez-vous icy
32. Sémélé, opera: Act 5. Prélude

Sémélé - Shannon Mercer
Dorine - Bénédicte Tauran
La Grande Prêtresse de Bacchus - Jaël Azzaretti
Junon - Hjördis Thébault
Adraste -  Anders J. Dahlin
Jupiter - Thomas Dolié
Mercure -  Lisandro Abadie
Cadmus - Marc Labonnette

Le Concert Spirituel
Hervé Niquet  - conductor

For his latest recording directing Le Concert Spirituel, Hervé Niquet has revived Sémélé by Marin Marais – the final opera by one of the leading composers from the reign of Louis XIV. Known above all for his compositions for the viola da gamba, Marais the composer was at the same time the author of a number of tragédies lyriques which he wrote for the Académie royale de Musique. Even to this day it has only been Alcyone which has attracted the attention of music lovers and musicians. Yet Sémélé – first performed in 1709 – arrives now full of music to charm and seduce the listener: a sparkling prologue honouring Bacchus, a set of arias with a freshly-minted appeal, a marvellously inventive diabolical scene, divertissements rich in character; all this leading up to an earthquake scene memorably anticipating the later work of Rameau. For all lovers of glorious baroque music, here is now the opportunity to discover and enjoy a masterpiece which has lain in theshadows for the last three centuries. ---glossamusic.com

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Disc 1
1. Alcyone prologue ouverture 
2. Alcyone prologue apollon et le dieu des bois 	
3. Alcyone prologue air des faunes et des driades 	
4. Alcyone prologue fuyez mortels 	
5. Alcyone prologue aimable paix 
6. Alcyone prologue a vos chants immortels
7. Alcyone prologue marche 
8. Alcyone prologue menuet I & II le doux printemp 	
9. Alcyone prologue passepieds I & II 	
10. Alcyone prologue qu un spectacle pompeux 	
11. Alcyone acte I.1 vous voyez le palais 	
12. Alcyone acte I.2 aimez-vous sans alarmes 	
13. Alcyone acte I.2 chantez chantez 	
14. Alcyone acte I.2 que rien ne trouble plus 	
15. Alcyone acte I.2 air I 	
16. Alcyone acte I.2 air II que vos desirs 	
17. Alcyone acte I.2 menuet et air 
18. Alcyone acte I.3 on approche cessez 	
19. Alcyone acte I.3 ecoutez nos serments 

Disc 2 
1. Alcyone acte II.1 prelude et scene le roi dans 	
2. Alcyone acte II.2 dieux cruels 	
3. Alcyone acte II.2 l injuste ciel a mes maux 	
4. Alcyone acte II.2 vous dont les mysteres affreux 	
5. Alcyone acte II.2 eprouvez notre ardeur 	
6. Alcyone acte II.2 severe fille de ceres 	
7. Alcyone acte II.2 fleuves affreux 	
8. Alcyone acte II.2 premier air des magiciens 	
9. Alcyone acte II.2 nos voeux sont ecoutes 	
10. Alcyone acte II.2 deuxieme air des magiciens 	
11. Alcyone acte II.2 une fureur soudaine 	
12. Alcyone acte III.1 o mer 	
13. Alcyone acte III.2 l amour vient de vous faire 	
14. Alcyone acte III.3 marche pour les matelots 	
15. Alcyone acte III.3 air des matelots I & II & III 	
16. Alcyone acte III.4 quoi les soupirs 	
17. Alcyone acte III.5 il fuit il craint mes pleurs 	

Disc 3 
1. Alcyone acte IV. prelude 	
2. Alcyone acte IV.1 ritournelle & air 	
3. Alcyone acte IV.2 on prepare le sacrifice 	
4. Alcyone acte IV.3 o toi que l hymen 
5. Alcyone acte IV.3 sarabande 	
6. Alcyone acte IV.3 air & symphonie 	
7. Alcyone acte IV.3 symphonie du sommeil 	
8. Alcyone acte IV.4 eloignez-vous 	
9. Alcyone acte IV.4 tempête 	
10. Alcyone acte IV.5 ou suis-je
11. Alcyone acte V. ritournelle 	
12. Alcyone acte V.1 barbares laissez-moi 	
13. Alcyone acte V.2 quel dieu descend ici 	
14. Alcyone acte V.3 qu ai-je entendu 	
15. Alcyone acte V.4 regnez 	
16. Alcyone acte V.5 je viens vous affranchir 	
17. Alcyone acte V.5 chantez chantez 	
18. Alcyone acte V.5 chaconne

Alcyone - Jennifer Smith
Ceix - Gilles Ragon
Pelée - Philippe Huttenlocher
Pan, Phorbas - Vincent Le Texier
Ismene, 1ere Matelotte - Sophie Boulin
Tmole, Le Grand Pretre, Neptune - Bernard Delettre
Apollon, Le Sommeil - Jean-Paul Fouchecourt
2eme Matelotte, La pretresse - Veronique Gens

Les Musiciens Du Louvre
Marc Minkowski – conductor

Alcyone is an opera by the French composer Marin Marais. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts. The libretto, by Antoine Houdar de la Motte, is based on the Greek myth of Ceyx and Alcyone as recounted by Ovid in his Metamorphoses. The opera was first performed on 18 February 1706 by the Académie royale de musique at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris. The score is particularly famous for the storm scene (tempête) in Act Four. The Marche pour les Matelots, also part of this movement, became popular as a dance tune and is the basis of the Christmas carol Masters in this Hall. ---wikipedia

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