Michel Richard Delalande [de Lalande] (French pronunciation: [dəlalɑ̃d]; 15 December 1657 – 18 June 1726) was a French Baroque composer and organist who served King Louis XIV. He was one of the most important composers of a type of music called grands motets. He also wrote musical pieces for an orchestra known as Simphonies pour les Soupers du Roy and ballets.

Biography

Born in Paris, he lived at the same time as Jean-Baptiste Lully and François Couperin. He taught music to the daughters of Louis XIV and served as director of the French royal chapel from 1714 until his death in Versailles in 1726.

He was considered one of the greatest composers of French grands motets, which are large religious works. Louis XIV preferred these pieces because they were impressive and grand, performed by soloists, choir, and a large orchestra. According to tradition, Louis XIV held a competition where composers were given the same sacred text and time to create music. He alone judged the entries. Delalande was one of four composers chosen to write sacred music for each quarter of the year (the others were Coupillet, Collasse, and Minoret). Delalande’s music was assigned to the most important quarter because it included the Christmas holiday. Later, he was responsible for all church music throughout the year. After his death, since he did not leave a mass of his own, the 1656 requiem by Charles d'Helfer, originally composed for the Dukes of Lorraine, was performed.

Works

Delalande created many different versions of his musical works. His early versions followed the French Baroque style, but later versions included more Italian-style singing with many notes on one syllable and more complex overlapping melodies.

At least four collections of Delalande’s music exist. Each collection shows different ways people who gathered the music viewed his work.

For many years, studying Delalande’s music was difficult because his last name was spelled in many different ways, such as de Lalande, Lalande, la Lande, and de la Lande. The family used the name "Delalande." In 2006, a final and complete "Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Michel-Richard de Lalande (1657-1726)" was published by British music expert Lionel Sawkins. This book has 752 pages, includes over 3,000 musical examples, and provides details about how to perform the music, the original sources, and complete indexes and thematic guides.

• Grands motets – large Latin settings of psalms, including Delalande’s Te Deum (1684).
• Petits motets – shorter Latin pieces for a few singers and instrumentalists, including élévations – songs sung during the raising of communion wafers in religious ceremonies.

Delalande was an expert organist and harpsichordist, but he did not write any music for keyboard instruments.

• Ritournelles – twelve detailed ritournelles for François Fossard and André Danican Philidor’s book Airs italiens (1695). For example, Delalande composed a 31-bar-long ritournelle for two violins and continuo, written before the aria "Giurai di non amar" from Domenico Freschi’s Olimpia vendicata (1681).

Selected recordings

• Symphonies pour les soupers du Roy. Hugo Reyne (HMA) 1990
• Les Folies de Cardenio. Christophe Coin (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