Charles Burney

The Present State of Music in France and Italy (2nd, corrected edition)

London: T. Becket and Co., 1773

Paris

At five o'clock I went to the Concert
Spirituel, the only public amusement al-
lowed on these great festivals. It is a
grand concert performed in the great hall
of the Louvre, in which the vocal part
consists of detached pieces of church-
music in Latin *. I shall name the se-
veral performances of this concert, and
fairly say what effect each had upon
myself, and upon the audience, as far as
a stander-by could discover.

The first piece was a motet by M. De
la Lande, Dominus regnavit, chiefly made
up of chorusses, performed with more
force than feeling; the whole was in
the style of the old French opera; and,
except the second chorus, which had a