This work is a motet with several numbers dividing the Magnificat in 7 parts.
The piece is entirely handwritten like all works by Grénon currently known. We have a five-part full score (that we will call the A source) and a series of incomplete separate parts.
This Magnificat is very clearly dated: “Saintes le 25e mars 1768” (Saintes, March 25th, 1768 on the Lady Day). It is the last-known and hand-signed work by Grénon. The collection of the Puy cathedral counts about a hundred works by Louis-Charles Grénon, among which one is very close to our Magnificat: a Dixit à cinq dated March 16th, 1768 and also hand-signed by the composer.
This tipycal motet “à la française”, with its five-voice chorus distributes voices accordingly to the tradition: dessus (sol 2nd), haute-contre (ut 3rd), haute-taille (ut 4th), basse-taille (fa 3rd) and basse (fa 4th) plus an instrumental bass.
Xavier Janot
(translation Philippe Do)
Nomenclature
solistes, chœur à cinq voix et basse continue