By Benoît Dratwicki, researcher and artistic director at the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles (CMBV)

Baroque music, with its opulence of sound and flamboyant expressiveness, embodies an era when art was grand, theatrical and imbued with emotion. The ‘Baroque splendour and magnificence’ playlist plunges us into this teeming universe, where courtly splendour, religious fervour and heroic exaltation come together in a dazzling musical fresco.  

Through the works of Jean-Baptiste Lully, Michel Richard de Lalande, Henry Desmarest, André Campra, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville and François-Joseph Gossec, this selection transports us to the gilded salons of Versailles, the chapels resounding with majestic motets and the opera stages where human passions are played out.  

Royal pomp and operatic splendour

From the very first notes of Lully's Overture to Les Plaisirs de l'Île enchantée, György Vashegyi's Orfeo Orchestra plunges us into the world of the Grand Siècle, where music serves power and magnificence. Lully, the undisputed master of musical spectacle under Louis XIV, displays the full splendour of his orchestral writing here.  

Baroque opera, with its heroic tales and spectacular scenes, is magnificently represented by André Campra's Achille et Déidamie, performed by the Concert Spirituel (dir. Hervé Niquet) and Jean-Philippe Rameau's Les Fêtes de Polymnie (Orfeo Orchestra, dir.György Vashegyi). Dazzling trumpets, imposing timpani and triumphant choruses exalt the grandeur of the heroes and gods. Rameau, in particular, offers us music of unequalled harmonic and rhythmic richness, where each note seems to sparkle like a jewel.  

The religious fervour and emotion of the motet

The Baroque period was not only synonymous with pomp and spectacle: it was also profoundly spiritual. The Grands Motets by Michel Richard de Lalande and Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville illustrate this sacred dimension, where music becomes prayer and elevation. Venite Exultemus (performed here by the Collegium Marianum and the Pages et Chantres of the CMBV) and Dominus regnavit under the baton of William Christie and his ensemble Les Arts florissants display celestial harmonies and powerful choirs, supported by refined contrapuntal writing.  

In De profundis by Henry Desmarest and Missa pro defunctis by François-Joseph Gossec, the music takes on a darker, more introspective tone. Performed respectively by the Orfeo Orchestra and the Grande Ecurie de la Chambre du roy and the Namur Chamber Choir, these works, imbued with gravity and contemplation, remind us that the Baroque can also express pain and the quest for transcendence.

A celebration of Baroque genius 

This playlist is an invitation to explore the many facets of French Baroque music, between brilliance and depth, grandeur and intimacy. Each track is a gateway to a world where music is a universal language, capable of magnifying human emotions and sublimating reality.  

Whether you're an enlightened amateur or simply curious, Baroque splendour and magnificence’ promises you an unforgettable journey in sound, where each note resonates like an echo of the past, still vibrating today with an intact intensity.