Michel Richard Delalande
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Michel-Richard Delalande
- Genres: Classical
Biography
As an organist Lalande once worked at four churches in Paris simultaneously. Seeking an appointment to the court, Louis XIV was impressed by his abilities but thought him to young to be appointed in a "du roi" position. In 1683 he became a "sous-maitre" in the royal chapel and a composer of music for the [royal] chamber in 1685. The tenure of the positions were granted for one quarter of the year to differen composers. Lalande, accordingly, shared his responsibilities to the king with others. As they retired or moved elsewhere, Lalande gradually gained control of the entire year. Later he also held the positions of superintendent of the music for the [royal] chamber and master of music. When Louis XIV died (1715) Lalande gradually conceded his responsibilities to others. He was the leading composer of the grand motet and wrote over seventy compositions in this type of setting. He forged a synthesis of diverse musical idioms. Included in the motets were Gregorian melodies, counterpoint and courtly mannerisms. His harmonies were enigmatic and with them he yielded a profound sense of pathos to the compositions. Other musical genres in which he composed included ballets and symphonies. As he aged his compositions became more complex and diverse combining such elements as airs and duets with greater degrees of counterpoint. ~ Keith Johnson, RoviRelated Videos:
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Michel Richard Delalande
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Michel Richard Delalande
Michel Richard Delalande [de Lalande] (15 December 1657 - 18 June 1726) was a French Baroque composer and organist who was in the service of King Louis XIV. He was one of the most important composers of grand motets. He also wrote orchestral suites known as "Simphonies pour les Soupers du Roy" and ballets. His works foreshadowed the cantatas of JS Bach and the Water Music and oratorios of Handel.
Born in Paris, he was a contemporary of Jean-Baptiste Lully and François Couperin. Delalande taught music to the daughters of Louis XIV of France, 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 a 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.
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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 counterpoint.
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 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 Lalande's Te Deum (1684).
- petits motets - shorter Latin settings for a few vocal and instrumental soloists and continuo, including élévations on a eucharistic text sung at the elevation of the communion wafers.
Instrumental Lalande was an expert organist and harpsichordist, and yet has left not a single note of keyboard music.[1]
- ritournelles - twelve substantial ritournelles for François Fossard and André Danican Philidor's book of Airs italiens (1695). For example Lalande 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.[2]
Selected recordings
- Symphonies pour les soupers du Roy. Hugo Reyne (HMA)
- Les Folies de Cardenio. Christophe Coin (Laborie) - court ballet, "The Insanities of Cardenio", after Cervantes.
- Grands Motets : Te Deum, Confitebor, Super Flumina. Christie (HMA)
- Grands Motets : De Profundis, Miserere, Confitebor tibi. Higginbottom (Erato)
- Grands Motets : Dies Irae. Miserere. Herreweghe (HMC901352)
- 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)
- Grands Motets : Regina coeli. De Profundis. Cantate Domino. Skidmore (ASV)
- Petits motets: Miserere a voix seule. Vanum est vobis. Gens, Piau, Christie (HMT)
- 3 Lecons de Tenebres 1730. Desrochers (Astree)
References
- ^ Catherine Massip Michel-Richard Delalande, ou, Le Lully latin 2005 "Que savons-nous de Delalande claveciniste? Comme certains de ses confrères dont les plus illustres, les Couperin, Delalande pratique de façon experte les deux instruments à clavier. En l'absence de toute pièce de clavecin signée de son, nous en sommes réduits aux conjectures sur la nature et les qualités de celles-ci."
- ^ Lionel Sawkins Exotic nectar transformed: the grands motets of Lalande's maturity
External links
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Mentioned in
L'Amour flechy par la Constance, pastorale, S. 143
(Classical Work)
Delalande: Symphonies pour les Souper du Roy
(Classical Album)
Ballet de la jeunesse, ballet, S. 136
(Classical Work)
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