Michel Richard Delalande - Miserere, S. 87 (1706)

Composer: Michel Richard Delalande (December 15, 1657 – June 18, 1726)
Choruses by: Sébastien de Brossard (September 12, 1655 – August 10, 1730)
Singer: Claire Lefilliâtre, soprano
Ensemble: Le Poème Harmonique directed by Vincent Dumestre

00:00 Miserere mei Deus
01:20 Et secundum multitudinem (chorus)
02:00 Amplius lava me
03:46 Tibi soli peccavi (chorus)
04:36 Ecce enim in iniquitate
06:15 Ecce enim veritatem (chorus)
06:58 Asperges me hyssopo
10:06 Averte faciem tuam (chorus)
10:50 Cor mundum crea
12:30 Ne proicias me (chorus)
13:08 Redde mihi lætitiam
14:19 Docebo iniquos vias tuas (chorus)
14:53 Libera me de sanguinibus
17:28 Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium (chorus)
18:04 Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus
20:45 Benigne fac Domine (chorus)
21:30 Tunc acceptabis sacrificium
23:45 Miserere mei Deus (chorus)

[AlexanderCappellazzo]

Her ornaments are good! Absolutely beautiful 💐

[olibssb]

This is incredible sacred music. It’s a pleasure to listen to a performer really go for the ornamentation like they would have back in the day. Plenty of evidence for heavy ornamentation and so few today can manage it, even though it was considered crucial in being a good musician.

[oscargill]

It's always fun to see how the performers interpret music like this, where ornamentation and a little improvisation is expected. I really think that kind of thing should be explored in modern art music.

[ViniciusRodrigues-nkbs]

You share beauty, and you shall be rewarded, if not in this life, surely in the next one.

[Ivan_]

This music is kind of inspiring. Very interesting listening.

[jean-francoisdaignault]

I’m not sure how historically informed/justified is the execution of the written ornaments in this interpretation, but I love them. They sound almost Byzantine at times. And the male three-voice verses sound like Georgian traditional music.

And regardless, the musically and the beauty of the voices are off the charts. Very enjoyable.

[chipensemble]

Never heard tihs one before, BEAUTIFUL!!!

[Mercer]

This is how this type of music is meant to be sung, smooth, little vibrato, the ornaments and grace notes standing out ever the brighter.

[vivaespana]

Cómo se puede concebir tanta belleza. Es una auténtica delicia versallesca.

[gerardbegni]

From a purely technical point of view, it is quite interesting ro see how residual modal harmonies and progressions mix with modern tonality (eg in G minor alternate or chained use of F and F#). This specific practice by such great composers as Charpentier or Delalande is a typical signature od the late baroque religious French music

[leilathomas]

her ornaments are so satisfying to listen to :)

[bluper]

Excellent ornaments! I'm slightly confused by the very French pronunciation of the "u" and "e" (in words like "semper") vowels--is that for historical accuracy, or an idiosyncrasy of this ensemble? Otherwise, a really lovely performance!

[katiepoole]

The final chorus is simply a recapitulation of the first two lines of the psalm to the recurring psalm setting: Line 1 "Miserere mei" etc. is set to part A of the chant, then line 2 "Et secundum" etc is set to A and then B, as per the first chorus at 1'23". Sort of like an antiphon. An artistic choice, I suppose - I don't know whether there's any historical or liturgical precedent for doing this, but it creates a nice book-end.

[lukas_koe]

I'm such a sucker for the descending ground bass @ 6:58

[wesleysuen]

One of the IMSLP scores claims to be complete “with choruses added”. But I can’t verify since I can’t access as a member to download the file.

[MsGinSling]

I'm assuming this piece would have originally been sung by a Castrato.

[Saladaman]

What's the name of the style when he repeats the same chord structure and changes de lyrics? I think it has a name that comes from renascence music? Can anyone answer me this? Thanks

[celibidache]

I wonder when the early music community are going to admit that there are no historical evidence for singing with a straight tone, but numerous sources stating the opposite; and I wonder when the early music fandom will discover that the notion that early music should be sung sans vibrato was made up during the second half of the 20th century - which is also when the modern pure falsetto countertenor was invented. Which leads us to the hooty falsetto dominated timbre early music singers persist to favour, despite the fact that falsetto was seen as a false voice - hence the name.