Born in or around Paris (the exact place and date of his birth are unknown) he was the most important French composer of his generation and the outstanding French composer of oratorios.

Charpentier went to Rome in about 1667, where he is believed to have studied composition, perhaps with Giacomo Carissimi. On his return to France about three years later he became chapelmaster to the dauphin but lost that position through Jean-Baptiste Lully’s influence. He composed the music for a new version of Molière’s The Forced Marriage (first performed 1672) and collaborated with him again in The Imaginary Invalid (1673). After Molière’s death Charpentier continued to work for the Théâtre Français until 1685. He produced his greatest stage work, Médée, to Thomas Corneille’s text, in 1693. From perhaps 1670 to 1688 he had as his patron Marie de Lorraine, known as Mademoiselle de Guise, and from 1679 he composed music for the dauphin’s chapel (as Lully died in 1687). In 1692 he became composition teacher to the Duke d’Orleans and in 1698 was made music master at the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.

In his sacred tragedies written for the Jesuit community in Paris, Charpentier established the oratorio in France. In such oratorios as the Filius prodigus (Prodigal Son), Sacrificium Abrami, and his masterpiece, Le Reniement de Saint Pierre (The Denial of St. Peter), he successfully integrates the Italian style of Carissimi with his native French style. His work is marked by its lyricism, skilled polyphony, and sensitive use of harmonic resources. In addition to his oratorios and stage works (16 operas, many pastorals), Charpentier composed 12 masses; elaborate motets with chorus, solos, and orchestra for the dauphin’s chapel; a Te Deum; a Magnificat; and other works.