Messe de Mort (1724)

Campra's sacred music includes 5 books of petits motets, the polyphonic Missa ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, the Messe de mort, and a large number of grands motets. All these works demonstrate the composer's mastery of theatrical conventions - descriptive instrumental preludes and dramatically representative scenes are not uncommon - and their style is imbued with the worldly, fashionable Italianate spirit of the time. The Messe de mort is today one of the more frequently performed of Campra's sacred works and it is also one of the most enigmatic scores of his entire output. The occasion of its commission and first performance are unknown. Montagnier, however, proposes the hypothesis that the Messe de mort was expressly composed for the memorial service for Philippe II duc d'Orléans (Campra's patron since 1697) who died at Versailles on 4 February 1723.