Charpentier: Te Deum, H. 146 | B’Rock Orchestra, Vox Luminis & Lionel Meunier

With pomp and circumstance: Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s “Te Deum” is a ceremonial hymn of praise – and the first bars of the prelude are a world-famous hit. They’ve served as the signature tune for the Eurovision since 1954. In this concert at the Concertgebouw Brugges in the year 2019, the “Te Deum” is performed by the B´Rock Orchestra on historical instruments. The vocal parts of the piece are performed by the “Vox Luminis” ensemble directed by Lionel Meunier. (00:00) I. Prélude (01:34) II. Te Deum laudamus (Sebastian Myrus, baritone) (02:53) III. Te aeternum Patrem (04:50) IV. Pleni sunt caeli et terra (07:01) V. Te per orbem terrarum (Pieter de Moor & Vojtěch Semerád, tenors; Lionel Meunier, bass) (10:30) VI. Tu devicto mortis aculeo (11:22) VII. Judex crederis (Sebastian Myrus, baritone) (11:59) VIII. Te ergo quaesumus (Zsuzsi Tóth, soprano) (14:26) IX. Aeterna fac cum sanctis (17:05) X. Dignare Domine (Sebastian Myrus, baritone; Zsuzsi Tóth, soprano; Lionel Meunier, bass; Victoria Cassano, soprano) (19:19) XI. Fiat misericordia tua (Lionel Meunier, bass; Zsuzsi Tóth & Victoria Cassano, sopranos) (21:02) XII: In te, Domine, speravi The “Te Deum, H. 146” is now the best-known piece by French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704). Charpentier lived at the time of Louis XIV. and also wrote – as well as many other sacred and secular works – many different “Te Deum” compositions. A “Te Deum” is a kind of Baroque hymn of praise. It was extremely popular and usually performed at ceremonial events such as baptisms, weddings, victory celebrations or contract signings. Although Marc-Antoine Charpentier wrote around 550 pieces and was careful to bind and date all the original scores, most of his works were quickly forgotten. But not the prelude to his “Te Deum H. 146”, which has opened programs of the European Broadcasting Union, known as Eurovision, for decades - assuring the piece global fame. The ”Te Deum” is interpreted by the Belgian B´Rock Orchestra, which specializes in Baroque music and plays on historical instruments, including timpani, lute and flauto traverso. The vocal parts are sung by the Vox Luminis Ensemble, famous for its interpretations of English, Spanish and German Baroque music for voice. Vox Luminis was founded in the year 2004 by the French musician Lionel Meunier, who sings bass in the ensemble himself. The choir appears in varying constellations according to repertoire and has won many prestigious accolades. B’ROCK ORCHESTRA Jivka Kaltcheva – CONCERTMASTER Yukie Yamaguchi – CONCERTMASTER Marie Haag – VIOLIN Sara DeCorso – VIOLIN Rebecca Huber – VIOLIN David Wish – VIOLIN Jivka Kaltcheva – VIOLIN Yukie Yamaguchi – VIOLIN Manuela Bucher – VIOLA Marie Haag – VIOLA David Wish – VIOLA Rebecca Rosen – BASSE DE VIOLON Julien Barre – BASSE DE VIOLON Tom Devaere – VIOLONE Anne Freitag – FLUTE AND RECORDER Beniamino Paganini – FLUTE AND RECORDER Benoît Laurent – OBOE Stefaan Verdegem – OBOE Benny Aghassi – BASSOON Fruzsina Hara – TRUMPET István Lukács – TRUMPET Koen Plaetinck – PERCUSSION VOX LUMINIS Zsuzsi Tóth – SOPRANO Victoria Cassano – SOPRANO Stefanie True – SOPRANO Amelia Berridge – SOPRANO Alexander Chance – ALTO Jan Kullmann – ALTO Jacob Lawrence – TENOR Pieter de Moor – TENOR David Munderloh – TENOR Vojtěch Semerád – TENOR Jonathon Adams – BASS Lionel Meunier – BASS Sebastian Myrus – BASS Produced by Evil Penguin Productions In coproduction with Concertgebouw Brugge © EuroArts Music International Watch more concerts in your personal concert hall: Subscribe to DW Classical Music: #tedeum #baroquemusic #charpentiertedeum