This three-volume study considers two major groups of Charpentier's oeuvre: the self-contained musico-dramatic Pastorales composed for his pious patroness, the Duchesse de Guise, and others; and the intermedes and incidental music written for Moliere and the Comedie-Franpise. The Introduction to Volume One sets Charpentier in his milieu in late seventeenth-century France and provides a background to the categories of stage work for which he composed. Chapter one discusses the Pastorale, its history, the de Guise household, and Charpentier's compositions, and chapter two the intermedes and incidental music for the Comedie-Franpise, mentioning the relationship between Moli-ere and Lully, Lully's ordinances, the personnel, and the works. Chapter three discusses the music of all these works in five categories (instrumental music, recitatif and ariose, air, ensemble, and choruses) and attempts to draw some conclusions. Volume one concludes with an appendix which cites the sources of all the works under discussion, and a bibliography. The most important contribution of this thesis is the nine complete transcriptions contained in Volumes Two and Three (five Pastorales in Volume Two and incidental music for four Comedie-Fransaise productions in Volume Three) along with commentary. In addition, Volume Two outlines the editorial procedures adopted for the transcriptions and includes comments on such matters as key signatures, time signatures and tempi, and ornamentation.