Early Music Rocks with Charpentier!

4/5/2019

.Triumphal trumpets surprised us; kettle drums stirred us. It was the Te Deum by 17th c. French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier--a glorious piece of music. I heard it Saturday March 29th at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach. It was the centerpiece of an Early Music Concert beautifully conducted by John Weatherspoon (conductor/artistic director of the expressivosingers.com).

Early Music Concert in the DeSantis Family Chapel featuring Chapentier's Te Deum (March 29, 2019)

There were echoes of Handel in this glorious piece of music. But rather than religious overtones, Charpentier's famous polyphonic motet sounded secular, at least to my ears. That may have reflected the fact that many believe it was composed to celebrate a French military victory--the Battle of Steenkirk in August, 1692. Three hundred years later this composition still stirs minds and souls!
Palm Beach Atlantic University

1 Comment

John Weatherspoon link

4/9/2019 07:34:49 pm

Thank you so much April. We appreciate your review. If your readers would like to hear us in concert, they may go to our webpage and click on our CONCERTS tab. We enjoyed this performance of Charpentier’s Te Deum with the Early Music Festival at PBAU. Thank you again for being there.

CALENDAR
April's Picks for
Top February '19
Art Events

Dear Culture Lover:
Art and music nourish our souls and imagination, while deepening our understanding of the world.
We are lucky in that in the Palm Beaches--cities from Palm Beach itself to West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, Delray and Boca--we have a wide variety of art (and music offerings) in "season" and out...
But where can you find out about the best of these?
these? Check out my "Top Picks" for the best art events of the month in the Palm Beaches... (Eventually we'll add top picks in music too.)
And read my blog for commentary on these art and music offerings in the Palm Beaches and beyond...
April
January 29, 2019

NOTE: April has a talent for life drawing and sketching; she is the daughter of two professional artists, and has been writing about art since she reviewed modern Chinese artist Chen Ting-Shin's artwork while living in Taiwan.