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Donald Macleod discovers the stories of two very colourful figures of the French baroque, Henri Desmarets and Joseph Bodin de Boismortier.

Born a generation apart, Boismortier and Desmarets are perhaps lesser known figures of the French baroque, but together they provide a fascinating picture of life and music-making in the reigns of the Sun King and Louis XV after him.

Boismortier’s success came from what seems to be a natural ability to keep his finger on the pulse: his music followed all the latest trends and styles. He made a small fortune supplying music to the amateur market. They were works that fall cleverly under the fingers, and he advanced his profits by publishing them for any number of different combinations of instruments. That’s not to say he didn’t dip his toe into deeper waters: he wrote cantatas, motets and stage works, of which the comic opera about Don Quixote is probably the best known. After a golden career in 1753 at the age of 63, Boismortier retired to enjoy life on a beautiful estate 45 minutes outside Paris.

That kind of material comfort was not to be Henri Desmarets’s destiny. Born in 1661, he started out as a page at the Sun King’s court. What was shaping up to be a promising career fell off the tracks after he eloped with one of his pupils. Her furious father got an order for his arrest, arranged for him to be attacked in the street, and dragged him through the courts. The furore finally ended when the couple fled into exile. In his absence Desmarets was condemned to death. He eventually settled at the Court of Lorraine. There’s little doubt his fall from grace had a detrimental effect on his reputation. His operas and masses show him to be a talented and innovative composer. He was one of the very first composers known to have written for double choir and orchestra.

Today Donald Macleod charts the formative years of these two contrasting characters.

Boismortier: Trio sonata in D, op 37 no 3
I. Allegro
Cappella Musicale Enrico Stuart

Desmarets: Mass for Two Choirs and Two Orchestras
Kyrie
La capella Reial de Catalunya
Le Concert des Nations
Jordi Savall, director

Desmarets: La Diane de Fontainebleau (excerpt)
Christophe Laporte, countertenor
Patrick Aubailly, tenor
Arnaud Marzoratti, baritone
Marie-Louise Dutholt, soprano
Marie-Noëlle Maerten, soprano
Raphaële Kennedy, soprano
Françoise Masset, soprano
La Simphonie du Marais
Hugo Reyne, director

Boismortier: Flute sonata in B minor op 44/2
Colin St. Martin, transverse flute
Arcanum

Desmarets: Te Deum (excerpt)
Stephan van Dyck, tenor
Robert Getchell, counter-tenor
Alain Buet, baritone
Hanna Bavodi, soprano
Marie-Louise Duthoit, soprano
Emmanuel Vistorky, bass
Le concert spiritual
Hervé Niquet, director

Producer: Johannah Smith for Â鶹ԼÅÄ Wales