Christmas concert : Les Paladins

Baroque Christmas in Versailles

Many traditional Christmas carols date from the Baroque period. Under the monarchy, the Advent season at the Nativity was a time of musical splendour throughout France, but nowhere was it as grand as at Versailles. The halls of the château resounded with heavenly melodies, while the immaculate gardens were alive with festive music. The organists, imbued with the grandiloquent spirit of Louis XIV's court, could give free rein to their imagination to improvise on the popular Nativity songs known to all the faithful, in a harmonious blend of spirituality and magnificence. Jérôme Correas and Les Paladins invite you to rediscover the spirit of baroque music, when the public took part in concerts and sang these popular works. A festive, participatory concert based around Christmas ‘hits’ by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Michel-Richard de Lalande and Henry de Mont, will transport the audience into the sumptuous atmosphere of the Sun King's court.

The solo arias will be sung on the move, and the singers will mingle with the audience, bringing them into close contact with the melodies and rhythms of this often highly danceable Baroque repertoire.