Requiem No.1 (à la mémoire de Louis XVI), for chorus & orchestra in C minor
Messe des Morts, for chorus & orchestra in D minor ("À La Mémoire de Marie-Antoinette")
At the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France in 1815, tributes to the executed Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were frequently offered, and two of the most important compositions used for their belated memorials were Luigi Cherubini's Requiem in C minor and Charles-Henri Plantade's Messe des morts in D minor. Cherubini's work was performed at a ceremony in 1816, shortly after the monarchs' remains had been moved to the royal crypt in St. Denis, while Plantade's score was revised and performed in 1823 for the ...
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At the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France in 1815, tributes to the executed Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were frequently offered, and two of the most important compositions used for their belated memorials were Luigi Cherubini's Requiem in C minor and Charles-Henri Plantade's Messe des morts in D minor. Cherubini's work was performed at a ceremony in 1816, shortly after the monarchs' remains had been moved to the royal crypt in St. Denis, while Plantade's score was revised and performed in 1823 for the thirtieth anniversary of Marie-Antoinette's death. These Requiems provide a connection between the Baroque and Classical practices of the Ancien Régime and the dawning of the Romantic era, and while Cherubini's Classically restrained mass is superior in terms of artistry and expression, often evoking memories of Mozart's Requiem, Plantade's work is significant because it reveals the continuing influence of the French motet tradition, as well as exploring innovations from opera. Hervé...
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