In the 17th century, an art song form flourished, particularly in France: the so-called air de cour. Numerous composers catered to the demands of the nobility, at whose courts the songs were performed by soloists with lute accompaniment. The beauty of the melodies was the highest criterion, the secular texts were almost exclusively concerned with interpersonal love. This was the reason why the popular songs were not allowed to be sung in churches and monasteries. The Franciscan monk François Berthod therefore transformed some of the texts into sacred songs so that nuns could also sing them. The album by the ensemble La Néréide features a selection of famous airs de cours and some sacred versions. The three sopranos are accompanied by instrumentalists in various combinations (lute, theorbo, viola da gamba, organ). Their program was created with an underlying story: a fictitious young noblewoman who lives in a church boarding school discovers wonderful secular songs while on vacation with her family and, together with her classmates, transforms them into sacred pieces so that she can sing them in a religious setting. A not entirely improbable fairy tale that makes the discovery of the songs quite exciting.

Louis-Nicolas Clerambault: Miserere
+Jean-Francois Lalouette: Miserere
+Du Parc: Je ne sais pas ce que je sens
+Jean-Baptiste Lully: L'ame contente dans la solitude
+Joseph Chabanceau de la Barre: Quand une ame est bien atteinte
+Michel Lambert: J'aime, je suis aimee; Le Penitent dans le desert; Laissez-moi soupirer importune raison
+Honore d'Ambruys: Lorsqu'avec une ardeur extreme
+Sebastien le Camus: Je m'abandonne a vous