Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704) was the greatest composer of late seventeenth-century France, equivalent to Henry Purcell in England. He wrote his famous Messe de Minuit (Midnight Mass) for the celebration of Mass on Christmas night in a Paris church in the early 1690s. It was the custom on these occasions to sing and play popular French noëls or Christmas carols, and Charpentier had the delightful idea of incorporating them into his setting of the Mass: ten tunes are heard during the course of the work, together with an eleventh, ‘Laissez paître vos bêtes’, which is specified for the offertory.

Recreating the spirit of a French midnight mass, we have added other suitable Christmas music, including Charpentier’s Magnificat in F major H77, probably written for Christmas a year or two before the Midnight Mass, a lively Christmas motet by Henry Du Mont (1610–1684) and a sensuous solo soprano setting of the Gloria by Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (1676–1749).

There will also be two suites of noëls for orchestra by the court composer Michel-Richard de Lalande (1657–1726).