Michel-Richard de Lalande Jubilate Deo

Among all of the composers of the French Royal Court, Michel-Richard de Lalande exerted the greatest influence on church music written there. His numerous sacred compositions held a place in repertoire of the Royal Chapel from the time of his death in 1726 until the first years of the French Revolution. The “Grand Motet” formed the main emphasis of his creative output, which reached its climax with his almost 80 contributions to the genre. These are primarily psalm settings, which in their multi-movement form and diverse scorings are comparable to the English verse anthem. Jubilate Deo, the setting of Psalm 99 (100), was composed before 1689. Although it is thus an early work of the composer, it was so highly regarded that performances at Christmas have been documented as late as 1752.