Although Charpentier spent most of his career with no access to the opera, since Lully had the royal privilege, he was nevertheless able to create a similar masterpiece under very special conditions. In 1688, the Collège Louis Le Grand, in the tradition of the Jesuits' theatrical and musical practice, performed his lyrical tragedy David and Jonathas, with acts interspersed between those of the play Saul. This musical work relates a well-known biblical subject, the deep friendship between David and Jonathas, son of King Saul, convinced of the betrayal of young David, who had been in the Philistine camp after his banishment. The inevitable confrontation of their armies leads Saul to suicide and Jonathas to death in the arms of victorious David.

The extraordinary inspiration of Charpentier's music, the dramatic force of the libretto, and the intense emotion expressed by the work, made it a great success from the beginning, as witnessed by several performances in other Jesuit Colleges. After three decades as artistic director of the Pages et des Chantres of the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, who better than Olivier Schneebeli can understand the educational context of Charpentier's masterpiece? Surrounded by magnificent soloists, he delivers in the Chapelle Royale his vibrant version of David and Jonathas's symbiotic and fated friendship?