What is Marc-Antoine Charpentier?
[[Image:MA Charpentier I.gif|right|thumb|An engraving from the 1682 ''Almanach Royal'' of a musician holding a work by Charpentier. It is probably Charpentier himself.]] '''Marc-Antoine Charpentier''' (born near [[Paris]], 1643; died Sainte-Chapelle, Paris, 24 February 1704) was a [[France|French]] [[composer]]. He lived in the period known as the [[Baroque music|Baroque]] period. His most famous music is his ''[[Te Deum (Charpentier)|Te Deum]]''. This work begins with a [[prelude]] which today is extremely popular. It was the signature tune for the [[European Broadcasting Union]] where it was used to introduce programmes such as the [[Vienna New Year's Concert]] and the [[Eurovision Song Contest]]. It is often used as a [[voluntary (music)|voluntary]] for [[wedding]]s. ==Life== We do not know much for certain about his early life. He went to [[Italy]] where he learned a lot by studying the music of Italian composers. He studied with the composer [[Giacomo Carissimi]] for several years. When he returned to France he got a job as musician to the [[Duchess]] of Guise who was a rich lady who employed several musicians. He worked for her for many years, both as a [[singer]] (he had a high [[tenor]] voice known in [[French language|French]] as an “haute-contre”), and as a composer. When the great [[playwright]] [[Molière]] stopped working with [[Lully]] he asked Charpentier to work with him. He wrote music for several plays by Molière including ''Le malade imaginaire''. After Molière's died in 1673, Charpentier continued to write for other playwrights such as [[Thomas Corneille]] and [[Jean Donneau de Visé]]. He often used more musicians than he was allowed (only Lully, the king’s composer, was allowed to use lots of musicians for his performances). In the end Charpentier stopped writing music for plays. In 1679, Charpentier was invited to compose for the king’s son, the [[Louis, the Grand Dauphin|Dauphin]]. The Dauphin had a private [[chapel]] and Charpentier wrote religious music for him. In 1683 he