Between 1690 and 1695, Marc-Antoine Charpentier was once again setting Offices de Ténèbres to music for the Jesuits, and he thought of his collaborator M. Beaupuy, asking him to compose three troisièmes leçons de ténèbres for a bass-taille with two flutes [or oboes and flute], two treble violins and basso continuo.

The texts from the book of Lamentations de Jérémie contrast with the keys chosen by Marc-Antoine in these three lessons; he, who always uses them to clearly illustrate the emotions of the text, this time writes the music in G major for one of the darkest books of the Bible.

After this period, he wrote twelve meditations for Lent in which he demonstrates a completely different choice; minor keys, dissonances and chromaticisms that evoke emotions entirely opposed to those of the Leçons. This paradox is the central question of this final-year project, in which one might view the Easter season as a gift to be rejoiced in, or as an event that invites us to introspection in the face of the sacrifice that underpins the Christian faith.

We find these two imaginary levels in the programme: lessons of darkness alternating with meditations for the tempus paschale, perhaps in an attempt to erase this dichotomy within the darkness.