Éditions du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles publishes the score of a second grand motet by Nicolas Bernier, a major figure among court composers at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. This new release is part of a vast project to restore and publish the 18 surviving grand motets by the composer from Mantes.

Nicolas Bernier is one of the great French composers of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Born in 1665 in Mantes-sur-Seine (today Mantes-la-Jolie), he was probably trained at the town’s collegiate church and at Evreux cathedral. He also travelled to Rome to study with Antonio Caldara. His presence in Paris, where he worked as harpsichord master, is attested as early as 1692. His first official post was at Chartres Cathedral in 1694, which he left 4 years later for Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois in Paris, opposite the Château du Louvre. In 1704, he resigned to succeed Marc-Antoine Charpentier at the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. He also frequented the circle of Abbé Mathieu, the parish priest of Saint-André-des-Arts, who brought together ultramontane parishioners; that of Philippe d'Orléans, the future regent and patron of the arts, for whom he was also music master; and that of the Duchesse du Maine, for whom he composed Les Nuits de Sceaux. In 1712, he married Marie Catherine Marais, daughter of composer Marin Marais. Finally, at the age of 58, he was appointed sous-maître at the Chapelle Royale in Versailles, alongside Lalande, Gervais and Campra. Throughout his career, he enjoyed the protection of numerous personalities whose graces he was able to win through his talent. He died in Paris in July 1734 at the age of 69. In Les Dons des Enfants de Latone, Jean Serré de Rieux describes this ardent defender of the Italian style as the apostle of "united tastes": "France admires in him the Italic science; /Rome revere in him the ornament of France". He was also unanimously recognized for his writing skills, particularly the fugue. His petits motets were performed both in Saint-Cyr and in New France. He was also an excellent teacher, and wrote a remarkable treatise on composition.

Nicolas Bernier’s grand motet Benedic anima mea Domino takes Psalm 103. Probably composed at the very beginning of the 18th century, the music has come down to us incomplete: only the instrumental upper parts (violins and woodwinds) and the orchestral bass have survived, along with the choir and solo singers, although the musical sequence is complete. Based on a study of the composer’s style, the practices of the period and an analysis of the scores, the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles has embarked on a vast project to restore the missing orchestral parts of Nicolas Bernier’s motets, under the direction of Gérard Geay and with the help of Raphaël Picazos’s writing classes at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Départemental du Val Maubué. The majesty of the motet recaptures the distinctive colour of the 5-part French orchestra, thanks to Bernard Thomas’s rendering in the Versailles tradition. Bernier uses the musical form perfected by Michel-Richard de Lalande in a superb "numbered" motet, linking short sequences of symphonies, solos, duets and choruses to give the closest possible expression to the text’s intentions.

This motet requires 5 solo singers (2 dessus, haute-contre, taille and basse), a 5-part French choir (dessus (divided), hautes-contre, tailles, basses-tailles and basses) and a 5-part French orchestra (flutes, violin dessus 1 & 2, hautes-contre, tailles, quintes and basses).