Delalande after an engraving by Charles Deblois ca

Michel Richard Delalande

e Lalande E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); pl ...

'' (; 15 December 1657 – 18 June 1726) was a French

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and organist who was in the service of

King Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

. He was one of the most important composers of grands motets. He also wrote orchestral suites known as ''Simphonies pour les Soupers du Roy'' and ballets.

Biography

Born in Paris, he was a contemporary of

Jean-Baptiste Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he ...

and

François Couperin François Couperin (; 10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as ''Couperin le Grand'' ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented ...

. Delalande taught music to the daughters of Louis XIV, and was director of the French chapel royal from 1714 until his death at Versailles in 1726. Delalande was arguably the greatest composer of French '' grands motets'', a type of sacred work that was more pleasing to Louis XIV because of its pomp and grandeur, written for soloists, choir and comparatively large orchestra. According to tradition, Louis XIV organized a contest between composers, giving them the same sacred text and time to compose the musical setting. He alone was the judge. Delalande was one of four winners assigned to compose sacred music for each quarter of the year (the other composers being Coupillet, Collasse and Minoret). Delalande's was the most important quarter of the year because of the Christmas holiday. Later he had full responsibility for the church music for the complete year. At his death, since he left no mass of his own, the 1656 requiem of the Dukes of Lorraine by Charles d'Helfer was sung.

Works

Delalande left many versions of his works. His earlier versions show adherence to French Baroque style, but the later revisions incorporate more Italian melismatic lines and greater attention to

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

. Also, at least four collections of his works exist, each displaying different looks at composer's work as viewed by the people who assembled each collection. Scholarship of Delalande's work was for many years hindered because of inconsistencies in the spelling of his last name: de Lalande, Lalande, la Lande, de la Lande, and others. The family wrote the name as 'Delalande'. Finally, in 2006 the definitive "Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Michel-Richard de Lalande (1657-1726)" by noted British musicologist Lionel Sawkins came out which runs to 752 pages containing over 3,000 music examples and details of performing requirements and of all source materials, as well as with comprehensive indexes and thematic locators. Vocal * grands motets - Latin settings of psalms including Delalande's '' Te Deum'' (1684). * petits motets - shorter Latin settings for a few vocal and instrumental soloists and continuo, including '' élévations'' on an

eucharistic The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted ...

text sung at the elevation of the communion wafers. Instrumental Delalande was an expert organist and harpsichordist, and yet has left not a single note of keyboard music. * ritournelles - twelve substantial ritournelles for François Fossard and

André Danican Philidor André Danican Philidor may refer to: * François-André Danican Philidor (1726–1795), chess master and composer * André Danican Philidor the elder André Danican Philidor the elder rench: ''l'aîné''(, Versailles – 11 August 1730, Dreux) ...

's book of ''Airs italiens'' (1695). For example, Delalande supplies a 31-bar-long ritournelle for two violins and continuo composed before ‘Giurai di non amar’ an aria from Domenico Freschi's ''Olimpia vendicata'' of 1681.Lionel Sawkin
Full Exotic nectar transformed: the grands motets of Delalande's maturity
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Selected recordings

* Symphonies pour les soupers du Roy.

Hugo Reyne Hugo Reyne (born in 1961) is a contemporary French recorder player, oboist and conductor. He is the founder and music director of La Simphonie du Marais. Biography Born in Paris, Hugo Reyne began learning the flute and oboe at a very young age. ...

(HMA) 1990 * Les Folies de Cardenio.

Christophe Coin Christophe Coin (; born 26 January 1958) is a French cellist, viola da gamba player and conductor active in the field of historically informed performance. He is the cellist of the Quatuor Mosaïques and is the director of the Ensemble Baroque de L ...

(Laborie) - court ballet, "The Insanities of Cardenio", after Cervantes. 2004 * Grands Motets : Te Deum, Confitebor, Super Flumina. Christie (HMA) 1991 * Grands Motets : De Profundis, Miserere, Confitebor tibi. Higginbottom (Erato) 1990 * Grands Motets : Dies Irae. Miserere. Herreweghe (HMC901352) 1991 * Grands Motets : Beati quorum. Quam dilecta. Audite caeli. Schneebeli (Virgin) 2002 * Grands Motets : Deus noster refugium Ps.46. Exaltabo te Domine. Le Parlement de Musique. Martin Gester (Opus 111) 2001 * Grands Motets : Regina coeli. De Profundis. Cantate Domino. Skidmore (ASV) 1995 * Petits motets: Miserere à voix seule. Vanum est vobis. Gens, Piau, Christie (HMT) 1992 * 3 Leçons de Ténèbres 1730. Desrochers (Astree) 1996

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delalande, Michel Richard 1657 births 1726 deaths 18th-century classical composers 18th-century French composers 18th-century keyboardists 18th-century French male musicians French Baroque composers French male classical composers French composers of sacred music French classical organists French male organists Musicians from Paris 17th-century male musicians Male classical organists