- Title: Music For A Dying King
- Date: 17th April 1992
- Summary: An exploration of the sacred masterpieces which Rrancois Couperin wrote for the aged Louis XIV, and including recently-discovered information that the small-scale intimacy of Couperin's work resulted directly from the whims of the declining king. The performances, both amid the splendour of Versailles and also in two great Parisian churches, are given by the finest Couperin specialists, including the group that won the 1991 Gramophone Award for baroque music. Ends in a performance of the Lecon de Tenebres No3, written for two sopranos and chamber group, and intended for Tenebrae, the mournful night-time service of Holy Week. It contains some of the most taxing of all soprano music, and accompanies a ritual extinguishing of candles that brings the programme to an impressive close in darkness and silence.
- Description:A 60' music and documentary programme on the church music of Francois Couperin and its emergence from the special circumstances of the last year of Louis XIV's reign including a performance of Tenebrae. For Holy Week tx.
- Broadcaster:Channel 4
- Collection: Channel 4
- Genre:Music
- Producer:CLARIONCALL LTD
- Programme Episode:Episode 1
- Transmission Date:17/04/1992
- Rights:On Request
- Decade: 1990s