Saturday, November 22, 2025 at 6:00 PM

Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris

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Mass of Saint Hubert at Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris

with the Débuché de Paris and the Choir of Sacred Music at Notre-Dame Cathedral

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The FRTM, in partnership with the François Sommer Foundation for Hunting and Nature, initiated the beautiful tradition of a Saint Hubert's Mass, accompanied by the rectors of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. The Mass is played by leading hunting horn ensembles, each group cherishing the memory of the unforgettable performances of 2013, 2016, and 2018, all of which can be viewed on the KTO website or the FRTM website (www.frtm.fr).

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This year, 2025, Bishop Olivier Ribadeau Dumas has granted the FRTM permission to revive this magnificent custom, which was interrupted by the devastating fire, so that the hunting horn may once again fully reclaim its place at the heart of the events celebrating the reopening of Notre-Dame for worship and visits.
It was the Débuché de Paris, presided over by Romain Renard and conducted by Guillaume Caucat, that sounded the Saint Hubert Mass on Saturday, November 22nd at 6:00 PM in the fully restored Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. 

 

For this exceptional occasion, the FRTM (French Federation of Hunting Horns) and its president, Sophie de Laporte, commissioned François Cheng of the Académie Française. Following in the footsteps of Jean d’Ormesson, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, Michel Zink, and Sir Michael Edwards, all also members of the Académie Française, Cheng composed a heartfelt prayer, "Joie joie, joie, pleurs de joie" (Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy), set to music by Sylvain Oudot, the great horn composer of the first quarter of the 21st century, thanks to a commission from the Henriette-Anne Doll Foundation, chaired by her granddaughter, Anne Postel-Vinay.
The Débuché de Paris orchestra performed six musical compositions by Sylvain Oudot under the cathedral's high vaults, and then, at the end of Mass on the square swept by a glacial wind, six more pieces to the great joy of the faithful and the public who had gathered there for this momentous occasion.
"With Sur l’Esplanade du Sacré-Cœur, Entrée à Notre-Dame, Deo Gratias, the humble and luminous prayer by François Cheng, the majestic Lys royal, and finally Ite Missa Est, the Débuché de Paris, following in the footsteps of Bishop Marsset who presided over the Mass, fully helped all the faithful to put on the armor of Light and reject the works of Darkness, proclaiming with its resplendent brass the power of the hope of Salvation.".

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Photos © Yannick Boschat