On 10 February 1638, at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Louis XIII signed the Declaration by which he consecrated 'our own Self, the State, our Crown and our subjects' to the Virgin Mary. The Declaration, whose aim was to ensure peace and restore faith within the kingdom of France, was henceforth to be commemorated at high mass each year on the feast of the Assumption, 15 August. This was the famous Vow of Louis XIII. Olivier Schneebeli decided to compose a musical programme evoking the ceremonies and splendour of the official celebrations of the French king's Declaration. It centres on the Mass for double choir - Missa duobus choris - by Nicolas Formé (1567-1638), sous-maître of the Royal Chapel. Louis XIII valued his works so highly that he had them kept in a special cupboard, to which he alone had the key! This Mass, and two motets by the same composer, also for double choir, are alternated with some of the finest works by great contemporaries of Nicolas Formé: motets by Guillaume Bouzignac (c1587 - c1643), who led a brilliant career as maître de chapelle in various cities of France, and Antoine Boesset (1586 - 1643), who worked at the court as director of the King's Music, and Litanies à la Vierge by Étienne Moulinié (1599-1676), who spent much of his life as director of music to the king's younger brother, Gaston of Orléans. This sparkling programme, showing Baroque in all its splendour, presents a fine panorama of the musical aesthetics that prevailed in France during the first part of the seventeenth century.
