The tercentenary of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's loss of life in 2004 motivated a surge of job at the a part of performers and students, confirming the fashionable review of Charpentier (1643-1704) as essentially the most very important and creative composers of the French Baroque. the current publication offers a picture of Charpentier scholarship within the early years of the recent century. Its thirteen chapters illustrate not just the sheer number of strands presently pursued, but additionally the way those strands often intertwine and generate the possibility of destiny examine. among them, they research points of the composer's compositional language and approach, features of his functionality perform and notation, the contexts during which he labored, and the character of his legacy. The appendix features a transcription of the stock of Charpentier's manuscripts ready whilst their sale to the Royal Library used to be negotiated in 1726 - a useful study device, as a number of chapters within the publication display. the big variety of subject matters coated right here will allure either to readers drawn to Charpentier's song and to these with a broader curiosity within the track and tradition of the French Baroque, together with points of patronage, church and theatre. faraway from treating his output in isolation, this ebook locations it within the wider context along such composers as Lully, Lalande, Marais, Fran?s Couperin and Rameau; it additionally perspectives the composer when it comes to his Italian education. within the method, the under-examined query of impact - who motivated Charpentier? whom did he effect? - time and again involves the fore. The book's Foreword was once written through H. Wiley Hitchcock presently prior to he died. Hitchcock's personal half in elevating the profile of Charpentier and his song to the extent of popularity which it now enjoys can't be emphasised adequate. adequately the amount is devoted to his memory.