Abstract
A canon at the Paris Concert Spirituel evolved, between the founding of the unique concert series in 1725 and its tumultuous end in 1790, somewhat differently than at the Académie Royale de Musique. Both organizations were state monopolies with the management farmed out to entrepreneurs. The concerts were considered to be among the Parisian “Spectacles,” entertaining up to 900 listeners each night,¹ but, unlike performances at the Opéra, they were not spectacular enough to play a role in glorifying the state or to amuse the fast crowd, known at that time as le beau monde. As a result, the entrepreneurs