Coronation Mass of Louis XVI by Giroust

 François Giroust (10 April 1737 – 28 April 1799) was a French composer. From Gramophone:

Francois Giroust was a French contemporary of Haydn who enjoyed considerable success as a composer of sacred music. In 1756, at the age of 18, he became maitre de musique at Orleans Cathedral where he stayed for 13 years. Then he returned to his native Paris, eventually becoming a sous-maitre at the royal chapel at Versailles in 1775 and surintendant de la musique de chambre in 1780. Giroust was chiefly admired for his grand motets, many of which were performed at the Concert Spirituel in Paris. In 1768 his grand motet, the Super flumina Babylonis won first prize in a competition run by the Concert Spirituel. The remaining works on the disc are a Coronation Mass for Louis XVI and a Prose des morts.

The earliest piece is the Prose des morts, a setting of the Dies irae which Giroust composed at Orleans in 1765. There are several interesting points of style which hark back to Rameau on the one hand and look forward to the classical idiom on the other. Some passages recall scenes in Rameau's operas while others are closer akin to later eighteenth-century vocal music. This Janus-like stance makes for interesting if not ultimately satisfying listening, and lovers of French baroque music especially will find something here to fascinate them. (Read more.)

More HERE.

Coronation of Louis XVI, June 9, 1775

Louis XVI takes the coronation oath