The Te Deum of discord

In 2013 the Lorraine Abbeys festival, which our Stradivaria ensemble regularly works with, drew my attention to Henry Madin, a composer who was born in 1698 and died in 1748. He was a contemporary of Nicolas Bernier and André Campra, although he is much less well known. He composed the longest French Te Deum ever, which lasts a whole 45 minutes! I delved into his work and we eventually produced a concert in the Royal Chapel at Versailles. It was the first time this Te Deum’s had been performed since Louis XV first heard it in 1762. It was a highly emotional moment. I feel that a musician’s mission is also to resuscitate neglected pieces of music.

Yes, Te Deum‘s by François Colin de Blamont and Esprit Antoine Blanchard. The story of these two musicians and their respective works is worthy of a novel! They both worked at Versailles during the reign of Louis XV. Blanchard was Music Master at the Royal Chapel and Colin de Blamont served as Superintendent of the King’s Music. The pair had totally different personalities – the former was an Abbot from the provinces, and his compositions were traditional and doubtless more discreet than those of his colleague. Colin de Blamont was highly ambitious, full of intrigue and, to my mind, not a very pleasant person!

On 12th May 1745, news of the victory at Fontenoy reached Versailles. The Queen asked for a Te Deum to be sung the next day at Mass. Blanchard was urgently sought but could not be found. Colin de Blamont got news of this and considered that he should conduct his ownTe Deum in the chapel. The Queen supported Blanchard who managed to deliver his score to the musicians the next morning. However, at the last moment, Blamont dashed up to the gallery and tried to replace it with his own music. He got there too late, Blanchard’s Te Deum had already stared. A few days later Blamont managed to get his Te Deum performed at the King’s Mass. There ensued a real power struggle between the Superintendent and the Music Master which turned into a dispute between the ‘Queen’s corner’ and the ‘King’s corner’.

I am more drawn towards Blanchard’s personality and music, which is more traditional, serious, closer to French tradition and less noisy than the Italian music in vogue at the time. But Blamont is brilliant and entrancing. It is hard to resist his music which is flowery and reminiscent of Italy. Programming the two works alongside each other offers a compelling picture of the types of music that was composed for the Royal Chapel at the time!

La Guerre des Te Deum, with the Marguerite-Louise choir & Stradivaria ensemble (Daniel Cuiller conducting), released under the Château de Versailles Spectacles label (2019)