William Christie
Text in englischer Sprache verfügbarLong a leading figure in the early music performance movement, William Christie has been especially influential in restoring opera and French music to their rightful places in the Baroque repertory. He is the harpsichordist and leader of the ensemble Les Arts Florissants. Christie was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1944, and studied piano and organ as a young man. He attended Harvard, graduating with an art history degree and switching to music only for graduate study at the Yale School of Music. His teacher there was the pioneering harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick, best known for his rediscovery and thorough exploration of the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti. Christie moved to France in 1971; eventually, he not only became a French citizen but also was named a member of the Legion of Honor. Like many other early music performers who have done stints in the contemporary music world, Christie participated in premieres of work by such notables as Luciano Berio and Morton Feldman as a member of the Five Centuries Ensemble between 1971 and 1975. Between 1976 and 1980, he played keyboards for the early music group Concerto Vocale, led by René Jacobs. In 1979, Christie founded Les Arts Florissants, an ensemble devoted to French, English, and Italian music of the 17th and 18th centuries. The group has done much to revive the difficult genre of French Baroque opera, with its arcane declamatory style, and it has exposed a great deal of neglected French Baroque choral repertory. Working with leading stage designers and choreographers, Christie has had special success with the operas of Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Jean-Philippe Rameau, rightful mainstays of the operatic repertory in their own times, but almost forgotten since then. He has remained active into senior citizenhood. Another facet of Christie's accomplishment has been his role in training younger musicians, first as a professor at the Paris Conservatoire from 1982 to 1995, and then at the helm of his own Les Jardins des Voix training program; many of its young singers were featured on his recordings. Since 1994, Christie and Les Arts Florissants have recorded for the major label Erato. That year saw the release of the Les Arts Florissants recording of Monteverdi's magnificent Vespro della Beata Vergine (the Vespers of 1610). The group has also recorded for Harmonia Mundi, and it has continued to record for both labels into the early 2020s. Christie's catalog of recordings is probably unmatched in size by any other conductor in the historical performance field, comprising at least 120 albums. That accomplishment was made all the more impressive by the sheer mastery of unknown repertory it entailed on Christie's part: while some of his recordings with Les Arts Florissants, including their 2017 reading of Bach's Mass in B minor, BWV 232, have featured common repertory items, a large majority have involved previously unrecorded French operas and choral works for which Christie had no established tradition from which to draw. The year 1992 alone saw the release of eight new Les Arts Florissants albums, all of them featuring previously obscure material. The coronavirus year of 2021 saw the release of two new Christie albums on Harmonia Mundi, N'esperez plus mes yeux: Airs sérieux et à boire, Vol. 3, with Les Arts Florissants, and Générations: Senaillé, LeClair - Sonates pour violon et clavecin, featuring Christie on harpsichord with violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte.
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Long a leading figure in the early music performance movement, William Christie has been especially influential in restoring opera and French music to their rightful places in the Baroque repertory. He is the harpsichordist and leader of the ensemble Les Arts Florissants.
Christie was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1944, and studied piano and organ as a young man. He attended Harvard, graduating with an art history degree and switching to music only for graduate study at the Yale School of Music. His teacher there was the pioneering harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick, best known for his rediscovery and thorough exploration of the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti. Christie moved to France in 1971; eventually, he not only became a French citizen but also was named a member of the Legion of Honor. Like many other early music performers who have done stints in the contemporary music world, Christie participated in premieres of work by such notables as Luciano Berio and Morton Feldman as a member of the Five Centuries Ensemble between 1971 and 1975. Between 1976 and 1980, he played keyboards for the early music group Concerto Vocale, led by René Jacobs. In 1979, Christie founded Les Arts Florissants, an ensemble devoted to French, English, and Italian music of the 17th and 18th centuries. The group has done much to revive the difficult genre of French Baroque opera, with its arcane declamatory style, and it has exposed a great deal of neglected French Baroque choral repertory. Working with leading stage designers and choreographers, Christie has had special success with the operas of Marc-Antoine Charpentier and Jean-Philippe Rameau, rightful mainstays of the operatic repertory in their own times, but almost forgotten since then. He has remained active into senior citizenhood. Another facet of Christie's accomplishment has been his role in training younger musicians, first as a professor at the Paris Conservatoire from 1982 to 1995, and then at the helm of his own Les Jardins des Voix training program; many of its young singers were featured on his recordings.
Since 1994, Christie and Les Arts Florissants have recorded for the major label Erato. That year saw the release of the Les Arts Florissants recording of Monteverdi's magnificent Vespro della Beata Vergine (the Vespers of 1610). The group has also recorded for Harmonia Mundi, and it has continued to record for both labels into the early 2020s. Christie's catalog of recordings is probably unmatched in size by any other conductor in the historical performance field, comprising at least 120 albums. That accomplishment was made all the more impressive by the sheer mastery of unknown repertory it entailed on Christie's part: while some of his recordings with Les Arts Florissants, including their 2017 reading of Bach's Mass in B minor, BWV 232, have featured common repertory items, a large majority have involved previously unrecorded French operas and choral works for which Christie had no established tradition from which to draw. The year 1992 alone saw the release of eight new Les Arts Florissants albums, all of them featuring previously obscure material. The coronavirus year of 2021 saw the release of two new Christie albums on Harmonia Mundi, N'esperez plus mes yeux: Airs sérieux et à boire, Vol. 3, with Les Arts Florissants, and Générations: Senaillé, LeClair - Sonates pour violon et clavecin, featuring Christie on harpsichord with violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte.
© James Manheim & Tivo Staff /TiVo
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Handel : Alcina [Highlights]
William Christie
Opernauszüge - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 30.10.2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Couperin : Leçons de Ténèbres
William Christie
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 01.01.1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rameau : Les fêtes d'Hébé ou les talens lyriques
William Christie
Oper - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 29.01.1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach : Mass in B Minor (Live in Paris) (Live)
William Christie
Messen, Passionen, Requiems - Erschienen bei harmonia mundi am 09.03.2018
Die neue, mit Spannung erwartete Aufnahme der h-Moll Messe wurde von Les Arts Florissants mit William Christie bei harmonia mundi live in der Pariser ...
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bien que l'amour… Airs sérieux et à boire
William Christie
Klassik - Erschienen bei harmonia mundi am 01.04.2016
Choc de ClassicaDiapason d'orDiese Auswahl von Airs sérieux und Airs à boire aus der Zeit Ludwigs XIV. ist der Auftakt zu einer neuen Reihe von Les Arts Florissants bei harmonia m ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
C.P.E. Bach: The Israelites in the Desert
William Christie
Geistliche Oratorien - Erschienen bei harmonia mundi am 13.03.1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jean-Philippe Rameau : Hippolyte et Aricie
William Christie
Oper - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 30.01.1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jean-Philippe Rameau : Zoroastre
William Christie
Oper - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 25.02.2003
4 étoiles ClassicaIt is tempting to say William Christie and Les Arts Florissants perform Rameau's opera Zoroastre the exact way the composer imagined it. Indeed, there ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart : Requiem & Ave verum corpus
William Christie
Chorwerk (für den Chor) - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 01.07.1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Si vous vouliez un jour… Airs sérieux et à boire, Vol. 2
William Christie
Französische Mélodies (Frankreich) - Erschienen bei harmonia mundi am 11.01.2019
5 de DiapasonDieses neue Album, das 2016 an der Pariser Philharmonie aufgenommen wurde und den airs serieux et à boire (ernsten Arien und Trinkliedern) des französ ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Charpentier : In Nativitatem Domini Canticum; Messe de Minuit pour Noel; Noel sur les instruments
William Christie
Geistliche Vokalmusik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 01.08.2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Royer: Pièces de clavecin (William Christie)
William Christie
Klassik - Erschienen bei harmonia mundi am 25.01.2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Charpentier : Divertissements, Airs & Concerts
William Christie
Vokalmusik (weltlich und geistlich) - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 15.01.1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mondonville : Grands Motets
William Christie
Chorwerk (für den Chor) - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 04.09.1997
Discothèque Idéale Qobuz16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Monteverdi : L'incoronazione di Poppea (Live)
William Christie
Klassik - Erschienen bei harmonia mundi am 30.08.2019
5 de DiapasonAn echo of the luxuriant performance at the 2018 Salzburg Festival, where this recording was made, this new version of the Coronation of Poppea by Cla ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart : Die Zauberflöte
William Christie
Oper - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 29.02.1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel : Acis & Galatea
William Christie
Oper - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 26.08.1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart : Die Entführung aus dem Serail
William Christie
Oper - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 28.01.1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rameau : In convertendo, Quam dilecta, Deus noster refugium
William Christie
Chorwerk (für den Chor) - Erschienen bei Erato Disques - WMI am 01.08.1994
Discothèque Idéale Qobuz16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Campra: Grand Motets
William Christie
Klassik - Erschienen bei Warner Classics am 04.11.2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lully : Les Divertissements de Versailles - Great Operatic Scenes
William Christie
Chorwerk (für den Chor) - Erschienen bei Warner Classics International am 01.04.2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo