Concert given at the Chapelle Royale de Versailles. Michael Praetorius's "Mass for Christmas Morning" is performed by the Gabrieli Consort & Players and the Pages et Chantres du Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, directed by Paul Mc Creesh.

Michael Praetorius was the most prolific German composer of his generation, displaying a sonic beauty and instrumental profusion worthy of his contemporary Monteverdi.

Here is a festive Christmas Mass as heard in a large North German Lutheran church around 1620. The congregation sang the Lutheran Chorales in the very course of the music, which summoned the city's finest performers around the children's and adult choirs in an extraordinary musical communion.

Spatializing this Christmas Morning Mass in the exceptional architecture of the Chapelle Royale de Versailles, Paul McCreesh alternates monumental pieces and solo arias in a rich instrumental setting, giving the work the popular and festive scope of a resplendent fresco.