Tenebres et Abysses

The Leçons de Ténèbres (Tenebrae Lessons) fall within the tradition of French sacred music under the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV. These late-night services during Holy Week, which set the lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah to music, find three successive visions in Lalande (Versailles), Fiocco (Brussels) and Pollio (Northern France), in which an increasing theatricality and Italianness emerge. With her Ensemble Léviathan, Lucile Tessier crafts a showcase worthy of the King's Chamber for the melismas of the Soprano Eugénie Lefebvre: the shadows come alive, a long lamentation rings out from the abysses, in the flickering flame of candlelight