Marc-Antoine Charpentier not only originated the Eurovision Melody, rather he also made an important contribution to French sacred music from the baroque with his oratorios, motets and cantatas. The four cantatas for the season of Christmas [CV 21.019-21.022] are now published in first editions.

The Latin texts of these works for Christmas, the New Year, Epiphany, and the Purification are based on the accounts of the Gospels, which are paraphrased in the form of poetic texts. As in Charpentie...