The first concert took place on March 18, 1725. Two of
Delalande's motets and
Corelli's Christmas Concerto were performed. The series was managed by a succession of director-entrepreneurs, who paid a license fee in order to obtain a royal privilege which granted them an exception to the monopoly on public performance of music held by the Paris Opera (Académie Royale de Musique). The first director was
Anne Danican Philidor, brother of the composer and chess master
François-André Danican Philidor. Philidor went bankrupt within two years. His successors,
Pierre Simart and
Jean-Joseph Mouret (1728–1733), expanded the operation with a series of "French Concerts," but met the same unhappy fate. These early concerts helped to establish the career of violinist Jean-Marie Leclair. Because no one was willing to take their place, the series was administered by the Académie Royale de Musique for the next fourteen years (1734–1748). During this period, the works of French composers (particularly
Michel-Richard Delalande, Mouret, and
Jean-Joseph de Mondonville) were favored, although Italian works were never entirely absent. The series was finally profitable because the Académie did not have to pay the license fee, but in general this was a period of stagnation. Two new entrepreneurs,
Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer, and
Gabriel Capperan (1748–1762), purchased the privilege, redecorated the concert hall, augmented the size of the orchestra and chorus, and set out to make their fortunes. They continued to perform new and existing French works, but also presented the most famous Italian singers. Beginning in 1755,
oratorios with French texts were introduced and became popular. The series was soon profitable. In 1762 a well-connected royal functionary,
Antoine Dauvergne, forced Royer's widow out of the operation she had run since her husband's death in 1755. Dauvergne and various associates managed the concerts until 1773. The interest of the public was excited by adding a
motet competition and by expanding the presentation of instrumental virtuosi beyond violinists to include masters of wind instruments. Although the concerts remained profitable, Dauvergne abandoned the concerts. As a result, the Académie replaced him with
Pierre Gaviniès,
Simon Le Duc and
François Joseph Gossec (1773–1777). From 1777 the
Concert Spirituel was directed by
Joseph Legros, its last director. Legros, a star singer at the
Paris Opéra, managed the concerts until they came to an end in 1790 with the
French Revolution. He attracted the most famous performers in Europe and renewed the repertoire, eliminating 17th-century grand motets and replacing them with works by
Johann Christian Bach,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (the
Paris Symphony in 1778),
Joseph Haydn, whose symphonies were on nearly every program, and others. Legros even commissioned new works for the series, such as Mozart's
Symphony No. 31 in D Major, K. 297. The final concert took place on 13 May 1790. ==The 19th century==