French Psalms of Catholics & Huguenotes

French psalms during the era of the Edict of Nantes In 1998 France commemorated the 400th year of the edict which temporarily brought to an end 30 years of troubles and civil wars and gave reformed religion the right to exist in the kingdom. A spirit of “Tolerance” was advocated which, although ambiguous, allowed enemies in religion to tolerate each other and even to collaborate. The spotlight put on the end of the XVIth century also provited an occasion to bring to the fore composers who were active at the time of this event and rescue their work from obsurity. Indeed, it is interesting to observe how the spirit of the Edict of Nantes was musically interpreted and how Huguenots and Catholics lived together and were able to have a mutual influence in the priviledged field of the French psalm, an art form common to both religions but interpreted in quite different ways. Interested in this repertoire for more than 10 years, the SAGITTARIUS ensemble presents in this recording an anthology of French psalms dating roughly from between 1560 and 1620. Their work puts French psalms of Catholic and Huguenot inspiration face to face with one another.