The Nativity season holds a central place in the religious music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier, and it can even be asserted that no other French composer of the Grand Siècle offered such a diverse body of work to celebrate Christmas. From Advent antiphons to instrumental carols, and even Latin sacred histories (such as the oratorio “In Nativitatem Domini canticum”), Charpentier employed a wide range of genres to depict this pivotal episode of Christian liturgy. These pieces are also notable for bridging the gap between learned music and popular music—a rarity in late 17th-century France.