The eleventh volume in the Monumentale series dedicated to the work of Henry Du Mont, one of the founders of the French grand motet and a major musical figure in the early reign of Louis XIV, this publication presents the collection of two-part motets published by Ballard in 1668.

Born in 1610 near Liège (Belgium), Henry Du Mont was influenced by his training in Maastricht, where strict Flemish counterpoint was tinged with Italian influence. He arrived in Paris in the 1640s, where he was organist at Saint-Paul church in the Marais district, before joining the court in 1652 as harpsichordist to the Duc d'Anjou, brother of Louis XIV. In 1660, he became Master of Music to the young Queen Marie-Thérèse, and in 1663 was appointed sous-maître of the Chapelle Royale. He retired in 1683, when the King and Court moved permanently to Versailles. He died the following year at the age of 73.

With the Motets à deux voix of 1668, the first published by Henry Du Mont since his appointment as sous-maître de la Chapelle du Roi, he became the first composer in France to print motets for solo voice in score. Using the formula of alternating numbers already employed in his Cantica Sacra, these motets offer a wide range of possibilities. These are elegant works of varied character, with no great difficulties of interpretation. Most are for two voices, either female or male, and a few are for mixed voices. The volume includes an entire section dedicated to solo voices: five motets for female voices, 3 of which can also be performed by a tenor.

Nathalie Berton-Blivet, a research engineer at the CNRS (IREMUS-UMR 8223), holds a doctorate in musicology from the Université François-Rabelais in Tours, and a traverso diploma from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris. After completing a doctorate devoted to the petit opéra in France during the reign of Louis XIV and the Regency, she turned her attention to the study of religious music in France, publishing the Catalogue du motet imprimé en France (1647-1789) (Société française de musicologie, 2011). She has also published several critical editions with the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, including Desmarest’s petits opéras and a volume of Henry Du Mont’s grands motets.