harmonia mundi (en)

"If Campra, the most prolific of them all (...) had gives us, in each of his first three books, four or five motets like his In Domine spes or even like his Jubilate (...), or if this misguided young man had not deserted the Church for the Opera, I think that Itlay would hardly have been able to hold her own against us; but it finally fell out differently; Campra paid no heed to his own interests."

This valuable commentray by Lecerf de la Viéville (1705) clearly informs us on the twofold aspect of André Campra's career: even if l'Europe galante (1697) and Tancrède (1702) earned him a celebrated (and deserved) reputation as an operatic composer, he also produced a large quantity of church music, both at the beginning (1694-1700-the period discussed by Lecerf) and at the end of his life (1722-1744).