There are four surviving settings of the Te Deum by Charpentier, out of a probable six, at the least. The canticle was of practical use on various occasions in the celebration of major triumphs for the King, whether military or personal. The Te Deum, H146, was written for the Jesuit church and has been conjecturally dated to 1692. It has won a certain modern popularity through the use of the opening prelude as a signature-tune, but deserves its relative fame as an assured example of the composer's work.

The Te Deum is scored for a four-part chorus and eight solo singers, with trumpets, flutes, oboes, bassoons, strings, and, as is immediately evident, drums. The autograph score records the name of one of the soloists, the bass Pierre Beaupuis, who had been in the service of Mlle de Guise, and after her death continued his career at the Jesuit church.

The work opens with a Prélude in rondeau form, the principal theme framing two couplets without trumpets and drums. Strings and continuo accompany the bass soloist in the first verse of the canticle, followed by the four-part chorus, continuing without the bass, and passages for the solo voices. The trumpets and drums were at first silent, and then return to introduce the words Pleni sunt coeli. A tenor soloist introduces the verse Te per orbem terrarum, followed by the haute-contre (alto) and then the bass, accompanied by the organ continuo. The full instrumental ensemble returns for the following section, marked Guay, as the chorus celebrates the victory over death, Tu devicto mortis aculeo.

A rapid fanfare prefigures the Day of Judgement, as the bass sings of the coming of the Judge, Judex crederis esse venturus, continuing with the dessus (Soprano) accompanied by flutes and continuo at Te ergo quaesumus. The full chorus and the instrumental ensemble without trumpets and drums return for the words Aeterna fac cum Sanctis tuis. Flutes, strings and continuo accompany the soloists in Dignare Domine die isto, the plea for divine mercy leading to a short dramatic pause. The brief silence is broken by the joyful and confident return of the full instrumental ensemble to introduce the optimism of In te Domine speravi in a final section that again contrasts the solo singers with the full four-part chorus, with its largely homophonic textures.

Writer: Keith Anderson