From the Publisher
Esprit-Joseph-Antoine Blanchard, a contemporary of Jean-Philippe Rameau, is regarded as a representative composer of religious music in eighteenth-century France. This book focuses on the eleven grands motets selected by Marc-François Bêche, a highly esteemed singer of the Chapelle Royale, who had firsthand experience of Blanchard's music performed during the king's mass at Versailles. The author provides a comprehensive examination of Blanchard's finest motets by exploring concepts and ideas that are appropriate in illuminating the composer's musical style. He also discusses in detail various issues pertinent to the liturgical context and performance of this repertoire.
Tai Wai Li has produced a deeply engaging study of Esprit Joseph Antoine Blanchard's church music, making fruitful use of Baroque rhetorical theory, incorporating the most recent scholarship on performance in the French chapel royale under Louis XV, and bringing to bear his sharp insights as choral conductor in order to illuminate a repertoire richly deserving of a performance revival. John Walter Hill, University of Illinois
