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Les Arts Florissants

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Les Arts Florissants is a French Baroque ensemble founded in 1979 by the American-French harpsichordist and conductor William Christie. The name comes from the 1685 opera Les Arts florissants by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. The group consists of a small vocal ensemble and an orchestra that plays on historical instruments. Its home base is the theatre in Caen, and today the ensemble is also affiliated with the Philharmonie de Paris.

Music and breakthrough

The ensemble became best known for Baroque opera. The great breakthrough came in 1987 with Lully's Atys, which firmly established Christie and his group as Baroque specialists. Recordings such as Pastorale, Purcell: Dido and Aeneas from 1986 and Petits motets from 1987 had already appeared. Later came Charpentier's Médée in 1993, among others, and many rarely performed works. The recordings appeared mainly on Harmonia Mundi and Erato. Besides opera, the ensemble performs oratorios, cantatas, madrigals, masses and motets.

Influence

The ensemble plays with a clear, light sound and pays close attention to text and drama. Many former members became leading conductors of early music themselves, such as Marc Minkowski, Christophe Rousset and Hugo Reyne. In this way Les Arts Florissants shaped a large part of the French rediscovery of the Baroque.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Atys and notice how the singers declaim the French text and how the orchestra, with harpsichord and strings, follows their line. Try to hear where the music accompanies a dance or a stage scene.

Discography

Studio albums

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