CHARPENTIER, MARC-ANTOINE. - Musician, b. in Paris in 1634, d. there on 24 Feb. 1704. He trained in the school of Carissimi in Rome, where he had gone to study painting. In his native country he became one of the greatest chapel masters in the service of the king and madame de Guise; the duc d'Orléans wished him to be his superintendent of music. Disgusted by Lulli's hostility, he left the theatre, to which he had contributed more than 25 works, and devoted himself to sacred composition.
Having become music master to numerous religious houses and finally to the Ste-Chapelle, where he was buried, he composed various oratorios (David et Jonathan, L'enfant prodigue, Le reniement de St Pierre), a Dialogus inter Christum et peccatorem, motets, masses for 2-4-5-6-7-8 voices and even for choirs, a Requiem for 4 voices, many psalms, Lamentationes for 1-2-4 voices with orchestra, etc., the manuscripts of which are for the most part preserved in the National Library in Paris.