Aged about twenty, Charpentier left for Rome, where he stayed for three years. He rubbed shoulders notably with Giacomo Carissimi, then considered the greatest Roman composer of the time. Composer of cantatas and motets, Carissimi was above all famous for his “sacred histories” (or oratorios) which were played at the oratory of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Cross, at the church of St Marcel. Charpentier learned from this, composing many sacred histories in Latin, and would be, indeed, the only Frenchman to cultivate the genre so assiduously. His first pieces of this kind show the effects of the elder man, in the themes he chose (Abraham, the Last Judgement, the Judgement of Solomon) as much as in the compositional style itself. But there are other Roman influences in Charpentier’s work, such as those of Bonifazio Graziani or Francesco Foggia. Charpentier was also clearly impressed by the great polyphonic compositions which could then be heard in Roman churches. As he did with Carissimi’s famous Jephtha, he copied assiduously the Missa Mirabiles elationes Maris sexdecimus vocibus by Francesco Beretta, followed by a series of remarks on Italian 16-part Masses, in which he undertakes a critical analysis; and he himself composed, some years later, a Mass for four choirs, the only French example of the genre.

In Rome, Charpentier also met one of his compatriots, Charles Coypeau d’Assoucy, who drew an unflattering portrait of the composer, but which was apparently inspired by the pique of being, some years later, scorned by Molière. An “original” who “has his brain ventricles rather damaged”, “barking mad”, who “needed in Rome [his] bread and [his] pity”—these are the terms in which he described his rival. One would need other testimony to counterbalance these obvious calumnies. Unfortunately, Charpentier’s life-long discretion has resulted in hardly anything being brought to light.