The French composer and organist Michel Richard de Lalande (Paris, 1657 – Versailles, 1726), a contemporary of Jean-Baptiste Lully, was music teacher of the daughters of King Louis XIV and was appointed Court Composer and conductor (Maître et compositeur de la chapelle royale, surintendant et compositeur de la musique de la chambre). His music was a harmonious synthesis of the French and Italian styles. He mainly composed ballet and religious music (numerous motets), as well as some famous orchestral pieces such as the famous 'Symphonies pour les Soupers du Roi' and the four Symphonies de Noëls (Christmas symphonies). The latter are orchestrations of traditional French Carols sung at Christmas Eve in the chapel of the castle at Versailles. Désiré Dondeyne, conductor of the Paris Metropolitan Police Band (Musique de Gardiens de la Paix) from 1954 to 1979, wrote this fine arrangement for symphonic band.
