Requiem für Luis I

Cast

Emmanuelle de Negri, Soprano

Gunta Smirnova, Soprano

Judit Subirana, Mezzosoprano

Alberto Miguélez Rouco, Alto

Jacob Lawrence, Ténor

Santiago Garzón Arredondo, baritone

Los Elementos

Claudio Rado, concertmaster

Alberto Miguélez Rouco Conductor

King Philip V of Spain (1683-1746), the grandson of Louis XIV who came to the Spanish throne in 1700, pursued a very active foreign policy from 1722, favouring a close rapprochement with France, in particular through the marriage of his daughter Marie-Anne-Victoire of Spain to the young King Louis XV, and that of his eldest son the Dauphin Louis of Spain, Prince of Asturias, to Louise-Elisabeth, daughter of Philippe d’Orléans, Regent of France. The French bride, who brought with her a considerable dowry of four million pounds, was only twelve years old and refused to appear at the Spanish Court or even to speak to her royal husband.

Philip V abdicated in 1724 in favour of his son Louis, sealing the new alliance with France more firmly. Exactly three hundred years ago, on 15 January 1724, Louis I became King of Spain at the age of seventeen. Clumsy in his youth, surrounded by followers whom he sought to give roles, and preoccupied above all with throwing lavish parties, he contracted smallpox, which killed him on 31 August 1724, leaving no heir.

Such a brief reign meant that he was unable to leave his mark on the times.

Philip V immediately resumed the throne, for two decades. He promptly withdrew from the French alliance, and the young Louise-Elisabeth was unceremoniously sent back to France after the country broke off the engagement between Marie-Anne-Victoire and Louis XV. The former widowed Queen of Spain lived in oblivion and piety until her death in 1742.

Despite the brevity of his reign, Louis I the Beloved, king for 150 days, received a splendid Requiem for two choirs for his funeral, composed by his Chapel Master José de Torres (1670-1738, Master of the Chapel of Madrid for thirty-one years).