The Sun King’s Chapel

Throughout his reign, Louis XIV encouraged the kingdom’s best musicians to compose motets of various scales, festive or contemplative, destined to the royal chapel to accompany daily worship as well as special ceremonies. – At our concert, you will be introduced to a rare and impressive instrument, the serpent. The bass of the cornett family, instruments made of leather-covered wood fitted with a brass mouthpiece, the serpent as its name suggests is curved so the player can easily finger all the notes. It was used in church choirs to reinforce the bass voices up until the early 20th century.