Gustave Charpentier (1860–1956)
- Delmas, Marc. Gustave Charpentier et le lyrisme française.Paris: Delagrave,
- 177p. ML410 .C5 D4.
The most thorough study available of Louise(p.61–91) and Julien(p.92–115):
analytic notes and reception accounts. Without bibliography or index. - Huebner, Steven. “Between Anarchism and the Box Office: Gustave Charpen-
tier’s Louise.” 19thCM19-2 (Fall 1995): 136–160.
How did Louisesucceed at the Opéra-Comique, despite “subversive political
undertones and... working class milieu”? Because it mythologized Paris and
had a “propensity to encourage readings consonant with bourgeois morality.”
Detailed genesis, based on the composer’s papers, and a close study of the
opera from a social viewpoint.
Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1645/1650–1704)
In FO: Le mariage forcéand Les arts florissans,v.7, and Médée,v.8.
The recent interest in Charpentier is largely credited to the explorations of one scholar:
- Hitchcock, H. Wiley. Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Oxford Studies of Com-
posers, 23. New York: Oxford U.P., 1990. xi, 123p. ISBN 0-19-316411-2.
ML410 .C42 H57.
The first book in English about the composer. Biography, along with a valuable
treatment of the stage works (p.94–115). Short descriptions and analytic com-
ments about the pastorales, “operatic divertissements,” and “tragedies.”
Works considered include Celse martyr, David et Jonathas,and Médée. Notes,
bibliography, index. - Hitchcock, H. Wiley. Les oeuvres de Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Catalogue
raisonné. La vie musicale en France sous les rois Bourbons. Paris: Picard, - 419p. ISBN 2-7084-0084-3. ML134 .C425 H57.
Front matter is in French and English. A biographical sketch, then a worklist
in chronological order, with musical incipits, bibliographic information,
sources, durations by section, secondary writings, discographies, and com-
mentaries. There are 551 numbered compositions. Indexes of manuscripts
(with RISMsigla) and performers; concordance with the listing for Charpen-
tier in the Catalogue du fonds de musique ancienne de la Bibliothèque
Nationale(1910–1914) by Jules Échorchville. - Hitchcock, H. Wiley. “Les oeuvres de Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Post-scrip-
tum à un catalogue.” RdM70-1 (1984): 37–50.
Reviews the state of scholarship on Charpentier and considers new editions
and recordings. The most important writings are discussed, and lacunae in the
literature are noted. - Cessac, Catherine. Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Paris: Favard, 1988. 604p.
ISBN 0-931-3408-02. ML410 .C433.
An English translation, by E. Thomas Glasow, has appeared (Portland, Ore.:
Amadeus, 1995). A thorough examination of the life and works. For the
144 Opera