Marc-Antoine Charpentier might be best known for the reams of weighty sacred vocal music bearing his name, but even this serious and devout composer (his resume includes a long stint as music-master to the Paris Jesuits) did not eschew the joys of lighter musical entertainment such as that to be had from his ten Noëls sur les Instruments, H. 534, of around 1695. True, these ten instrumental settings of then-famous Christmas carols were apparently intended to be played during Advent and especially Christmas Eve church services, but there was a time-honored French Baroque tradition of "letting the hair down," even in church, during these final joyous moments before Christmas. Music that dances as happily and, at times, raucously as do these instrumental Noëls should probably bear a label warning: "die-hard proponents of grim, austere sacred music beware."

Charpentier's manuscripts for these happy truffles are not entirely specific as to the instrumentation intended, but it is clear that flutes (meaning recorders), string instruments, and basso continuo should be included. The ten carols, in no particular order (since Charpentier provided no particular order), are: "Les bourgeois de Châtre"; "Or nous dites, Marie"; "Laissez paître vos bêtes"; "Joseph est bien marié"; "Vous qui désirez sans fin"; "O créateur"; "A la venue de Noël"; "Une jeune pucelle"; "Où s'en vont ces gais bergers?"; and a second setting of "Les bourgeois de Châtre."

Charpentier's settings, while by no means complex, are not necessarily plain. The first "Les bourgeois de Châtre," for example, begins with a run-of-the-mill, homophonic statement of the carol melody by the whole ensemble. But then there is a comely trio during which the players band together into smaller groups and play around with the various phrases of the melody, offering some counterpoint here, a little imitation there. Finally, the opening music is played again, da capo. The setting of "Vous qui désirez sans fin," on the other hand, is more like a miniature set of variations on the carol melody. The second setting of "les bourgeois de Châtre," which should probably be played as the final number if the Noëls are played as a whole, is both more intricate and less repetitive than the first setting.

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