Scored for chorus, soloists, flutes, strings and continuo, Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit (Midnight Mass for Christmas Eve), thought to have been written for Christmas 1694, is a unique synthesis between the sacred and the secular, combining ten popular French carol melodies with standard liturgical elements for the Feast of the Nativity. The wide variety of mood, colour and style is further underlined in this recording by the addition of the original nöels, including Une jeune pucelle performed in the original Huron language. The opening Prelude to the Te Deum has won a certain modern popularity as the European Broadcasting Union signature tune.