Les messes retrouvées de Jehan Titelouze

Description

Imprinted at the top of the Hymns of the church for playing on the organ (1623) by Jehan Titelouze, these verses by the Rouen poet Pierre Bardin (1595-1635) celebrate one of the greatest musicians of the reign of Louis XIII. It was known that Titelouze, long considered the founder of the French school of organ, also left behind vocal music, presumed lost. The recent discovery, by Laurent Guillo, of four polyphonic masses composed by the organist was a valuable event, which today allows us to appreciate in all its diversity his contrapuntal genius. The only polyphonic masses from Rouen of the 17th century that have come down to us, they constitute a precious link in the understanding of the musical life of the rich Norman capital and its Notre-Dame cathedral, where Titelouze held the organ for nearly half a century, from 1588 to 1633.