Christmas time would make sacred music shined forth in monarchical France. The organists had free rein to improvise on the popular Nativity songs, which had been known to all the faithful for centuries, and amateurs would swarm to churches throughout Paris to hear the virtuoso works of these masters! Here, finally gathered together, are the most famous organ pieces of Daquin, Corette, Dandrieu and Balbastre along with the melodies that inspired them, played by the skilled fingers of Gaetan Jarry at the Grand Orgue of the Royal Chapel of Versailles, accompanied by the children’s choir (the Pages) of the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, just as the children used to at the Chapel during the reign of Louis XIV!
