Upcoming A Joyful Noyse Concert at Hancock Church
Messe de minuit pour Nöel
Midnight Mass for Christmas
with motets written for the convents of Paris by
Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Sunday, January 5, 2025, at 2:00 pm
Hancock Church, 1912 Mass. Ave., Lexington, MA $15
donation to support the Hancock Music Program
Charpentier wrote the Messe de minuit in 1694 while employed by the Jesuit Church. During a time when the low mass, or recited mass, accompanied by the now popular grand motets gained favor, Charpentier was singular in his unique and distinctive settings of the high mass, or sung mass. But even among the exceptionalness of Charpentier’s other masses, the Messe de Minuit stands alone.
What is so remarkable about this mass is Charpentier’s use of French Christmas carols. Folk melodies and carols had been used in numerous works by other composers, but only as the bricks and mortar with which they constructed their compositions. Here Charpentier uses no fewer than ten carols throughout the mass. They are no longer just building blocks. Their spirit of joy, simplicity and charm become the life blood and essence of the mass.
What a wonderfully ironic twist to have these spirited folk melodies ring out in the formal ceremonial setting of a high midnight Christmas mass. A night that itself is so bound in irony, wonder and mystery. A night when shepherds and
celestial bands rejoiced together in the fields of Bethlehem. A night when king and commoner alike fell to their knees to honor the king of kings: a tiny Christ Child rocked lovingly in Virgin Mary’s arms.