These “petits motets manuscrits,” as the first title of the collection published by the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles and edited by musicologist Jean Duron, announces, were written for the nocturnal services of the dead. The “Lessons for the Dead” are true little-known gems, dating from 1696-1697, and were not published during the lifetime of Father Brossard, who was then choirmaster at Strasbourg Cathedral. More known are the Leçons de Ténèbres, (by François Couperin or Marc-Antoine Charpentier for example) which put into music the much more popular texts written for the Holy Week.

In this rare work by Sébastien de Brossard, the music highlights the text, whose sometimes exclamative and often introspective style is conducive to spiritual reflection, and opens up the full philosophical dimension of the texts, in the intimate atmosphere of the nightly services.