Louis Grénon was born in Saintes in 1734. Trained at his parish choir school, he entered the service of Le Puy-en-Velay cathedral as master of music at the age of 20. In 1763, he left for Clermont-Ferrand, probably because of a dispute over his remuneration. He returned to his hometown cathedral in 1765, where he was granted a semi-prebend in addition to his master’s degree. He died on 2 January 1769, the year he turned 35.

Louis Grénon is certainly the most emblematic figure in the extraordinary collection of musical scores unearthed in 1994 in the outbuildings of Le Puy-en-Velay cathedral. Comprising more than 700 works, it represents a major discovery in late 18th-century church music, and is essential to our understanding of music in the provinces, particularly religious music. The study of this collection is being actively pursued by the CHEC research group in Clermont-Ferrand, headed by Bernard Dompnier and with the participation of Jean Duron.

Beyond the major historical interest of this corpus, the remarkable skill of this young composer is very appealing: this is masterful music, full of tenderness and beautiful moments, not very difficult to sing, which will convince lovers of early music of the skill and talent of composers from the beautiful provinces of France.

This first volume opens with the concertante-style Mass in G major, composed for 5-voice choir, basso continuo and two concertante bassoons. The same number of voices is required for the Messe en noël, a remarkable and rare example of a "parody mass". The somewhat more austere Missa quinti toni requires a 4-voice choir and continuo, and finally the beautiful Petite messe in A major, in concertante style, also for 4-voice choir with continuo and an obbligato bowed bass.

The volume opens with a general introduction by Bernard Dompnier. After a biography of the composer and an overview of his work, the historian addresses the matter of archive documents, then presents the collection of Le Puy-en-Velay Cathedral. This is followed by Jean Duron’s introduction, which focuses more directly on the works published in the volume. In particular, he discusses the Messe en noël, which, like those by Charpentier and Brossard, uses Christmas melodies, as well as themes by Rameau and Mondonville: he reviews the genre of the "Noël en musique", parody and the problems that can arise from inserting well-known secular melodies into a liturgical context, and finally the technical treatment of such devices. This leads him to treat the circulation of works in a new light: these borrowings from Parisian composers show that a young composer, scarcely out of Saintonge and Velay, could be just as familiar as his audience with Parisian musical fashion and avant-garde writing techniques. The introduction is accompanied by 6 facsimiles, the full score of the 4 masses and a critical apparatus at the end of the volume. Vocal and instrumental material for each mass is also available.

Bernard Dompnier, Professor of Modern History at the University of Clermont-Ferrand 2 and Senior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France, specialises in the history of modern Catholicism, with a particular focus on missionary activity in 17th-century France. For several years, his research has focused on the history of worship and devotions.

Jean Duron is a researcher and Publishing Director at the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles. His work, essentially devoted to the music of Louis XIV and the means by which it was performed (scoring, counterpoint, composition, theory), mainly concerns large-scale forms (grand motet, tragédie en musique), the music of the Court and the great cathedrals of the kingdom. He has published works by Charpentier, Du Mont, Rameau and Brossard, amongst others, with Éditions du CMBV and other publishers.