Venetian Splendors: Sacred Baroque Music with Women's Choirs | Le Concert Spirituel & Hervé Niquet

Venetian Splendors: Sacred Baroque Music with Women's Choirs | Le Concert Spirituel & Hervé Niquet
威尼斯輝煌：巴洛克聖樂與女聲合唱 | 靈性音樂會與埃爾韋·尼凱音樂會

104,395 views Dec 19, 2025 TRINITY CHAPEL #Baroque #classicalmusic
"Splendeurs Vénitiennes" (Venetian Splendors) is the title of a concert in which Baroque music is presented as an extraordinary auditory experience — in the Venetian style with double female choir and double orchestra. The program includes sacred choral music by Antonio Vivaldi and André Campra. Musicians from Le Concert Spirituel sing and play under the direction of Hervé Niquet in the Chapelle de la Trinité in Lyon, France. It took place as part of the 32nd Baroque Music Festival of Lyon on December 12th, 2014.

André Campra: Mass “Ad majorem Dei gloriam”
(00:00) I. Introduction
(01:12) II. Kyrie
(04:37) III. Gloria
(08:02) IV. Sanctus
(10:31) V. Agnus Dei

Antonio Vivaldi:
(13:59) Psalm 121 “Laetatus Sum”
(17:22) Psalm 113 “In Exitu Israel”
(21:26) Magnificat RV 610
(34:42) Psalm 147 “Lauda Jerusalem”

Antonio Vivaldi: Gloria per l’ospedale RV 589
(42:14) I. Gloria in excelsis Deo
(44:32) II. Et in terra pax
(47:46) III. Laudamus te
(50:00) IV. Gratias agimus tibi
(50:22) V. Propter magnam gloriam tuam
(51:23) VI. Domine Deus, Rex coelestis
(54:58) VII. Domine, Fili unigenite
(57:02) VIII. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei
(1:00:26) IX. Qui tollis peccata mundi
(1:01:24) X. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris
(1:03:42) XI. Quoniam tu solus sanctus
(1:04:27) XII. Cum Sancto Spiritu
(1:08:30) Encore: VII. Domine, Fili unigenite

Venice was a major musical center during the Baroque era, attracting composers, performers, and enthusiasts from across Europe who came to experience its newest musical developments. A key draw were the Ospedali Grandi — four charitable institutions whose highly trained girls’ choirs and orchestras became famous for their extraordinary skill in performing sacred music. According to contemporary accounts, the young women sometimes even performed behind screens to keep listeners focused on the sound rather than the performers themselves.

One of their specialties was singing in multiple choirs positioned around the space, a practice that produced striking antiphonal effects and became known as the Venetian polychoral style. This approach shaped a distinctive body of Venetian psalm settings, which grew into a unique and influential musical genre in their own right.

For many years, Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741), born in Venice, was a teacher at one of the four music schools — the Ospedale della Pietà — and regularly performed concerts there. This video gives us an idea of what would have been considered a magnificent concert experience at the time. Three of Vivaldi's psalms are performed, the Magnificat (RV 610) and the Gloria per l'ospedale (RV 589). Vivaldi's pieces are complemented by the Mass Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam by the rarely heard composer André Campra (1660–1744).

Campra, although not from Venice but from Aix-en-Provence in France, was one of the great admirers of Venetian music. One wonder what he would have said about his mass being performed in the Baroque Venetian style — with a double choir of female voices accompanied by a double ensemble. In any case, Campra's mass enriches Splendeurs Vénitiennes in an interesting way.

French conductor and harpsichordist Hervé Niquet founded Le Concert Spirituel in 1987, naming it after a Parisian concert society that was popular in the 18th century. The group tours regularly and is known for performing French and sacred music with a special focus on bringing long-forgotten works back into the spotlight.

Le Concert Spirituel: 
Agathe Boudet, Sophie Landy, Hélène Richer | Soprano I 
Marie-Pierre Wattiez, Alice Glaie, Aude Fenoy | Soprano II 
Julia Beaumier, Eva Zaicik, Fiona McGow | Mezzo-Soprano I 
Mélodie Ruvio, Alice Habellion, Caroline Marçot | Mezzo-Soprano II 
Alice Pierot (1er violon), Olivier Briand | Violin I 
Yannis Roger, Florence Stroesser | Violin II 
Judith Depoutot-Richard, Géraldine Roux | Viola 
Tormod Dalen, Nils de Dinechin | Cello 
Luc Devanne, Brigitte Quentin | Double bass 
Caroline Delume | Theorbo 
François Saint Yves | Organ 
Hervé Niquet | Director 

Text: Rita Kass

Film Provided by DW Classical Music