Yann-Fanch Kemener, Doulce Mémoire (early music ensemble), Sandrine Piau (soprano), Carlo Vistoli, Raffaele Giordani, Salvo Vitale, Coro E Orchestra Ghislieri, Giulio Prandi, Choeur De Chambre De Namur, La Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy (early music ensemble), Le Concert Spirituel (early music ensemble), Hervé Niquet

Févin: Requiem d’Anne de Bretagne
Jommelli: Requiem
Neukomm: Requiem
Cherubini: Requiem in C minor
Plantade: Messe des morts in D minor
Hayne, G: Missa pro defunctis 6 vocum
Purcell: Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary, 1695
Fux: Kaiserrequiem

Until the end of the Ancien Régime, one of the main activities of composers – and one of their chief means of subsistence – was that of maître de chapelle or Kapellmeister, directing the music performed at religious services attended by the princely families who employed them. Although this mostly concerned ordinary occasions, sometimes even on a daily basis, such composers also had to provide music tailored for specific and sometimes unexpected events, such as a military victory that had to be celebrated by a Te Deum or, more sadly, the death of a sovereign. For this five-CD set, Alpha Classics has assembled eight requiems, from Antoine de Févin’s Mass of the Dead for Anne of Brittany to Luigi Cherubini’s Mass for the return to France of the remains of Louis XVI.