![Delalande after an engraving by Charles Deblois ca](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Delalande_after_an_engraving_by_Charles_Deblois_ca._1872%2C_itself_after_his_portrait_in_oils_by_Jean-Baptiste_Santerre%2C_ca_1705.jpg)
Michel Richard Delalande
e Lalande
E, or e, is the fifth Letter (alphabet), letter and the second vowel#Written vowels, vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worl ...
'' (; 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
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...
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 The grand motet (plural grands motets) was a genre of motet cultivated at the height of the French baroque, although the term dates from later French usage. At the time, due to the stylistic feature of employing two alternating choirs, the works w ...
. 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
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
, and was director of the French chapel royal from 1714 until his death at
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
in 1726.
Delalande was arguably the greatest composer of French ''
grands motets The grand motet (plural grands motets) was a genre of motet cultivated at the height of the French baroque, although the term dates from later French usage. At the time, due to the stylistic feature of employing two alternating choirs, the works w ...
'', 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
melisma
Melisma ( grc-gre, μÎλισμα, , ; from grc, , melos, song, melody, label=none, plural: ''melismata'') is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referr ...
tic 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 The grand motet (plural grands motets) was a genre of motet cultivated at the height of the French baroque, although the term dates from later French usage. At the time, due to the stylistic feature of employing two alternating choirs, the works w ...
- Latin settings of psalms including Delalande's ''
Te Deum
The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chur ...
'' (1684).
*
petits motets
The ''petit motet'' ("little motet") was a genre of domestic sacred chamber music popular in France during the baroque era. It was the sacred counterpart of the secular cantata, and small-scale counterpart of the ''grand motet.'Motets for one an ...
- 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
Giovanni Domenico Freschi (26 March 1634 – 2 July 1710) was an Italian composer and Roman Catholic priest. From the age of 22 until his death he worked as a church musician and composer in Vincenza. He was also active as an opera composer from 1 ...
's ''Olimpia vendicata'' of 1681.
[Lionel Sawkin]
Full Exotic nectar transformed: the grands motets of Delalande's maturity
/ref>
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 a ...
(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