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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2020
That there was a lively tradition of French sacred choral music in the second half of the eighteenth century is a fact that has to some extent been obscured by the vivid personalities, the querelles, the wide public appeal and the overall vitality of the contemporary opera world. The French church, however, did support a nationwide system of choir schools (or maîtrises), and many establishments maintained music programmes of a size and excellence that reflected the church's wealth and taste.
1 See ‘Mémoire des maîtres de musique servant à la chapelle du Roy’ (1769), in Paris, Archives Nationales (hereafter AN), Oi 842 no 7, f 27v A similar requirement was made for the accession of Gauzargues in 1757 – indeed he had to wait a year, during which he wrote the required number, before assuming the positionGoogle Scholar
2 Almanack musical (1775), 101–4, repr Geneva, 1971–2, 109–12 All the figures cued below are taken from this sourceGoogle Scholar
3 Gerbert, Martin, De cantu et musica sacra, 2 vols (St Blasien, 1774), ii, 363Google Scholar
4 de Sens, Imbert, Nouvelle méthode ou principes raisonnés de planchant dans sa perfection (Paris, 1780), viGoogle Scholar
5 Antoine Pierre Marie Gilbert, Description historique de la basilique métropolitaine de Paris (Paris, 1821), 398Google Scholar
6 For details of the chapel positions at court, see Jean Mongrédien, La musique en France des lumières au romantisme (Paris, 1986), 160–4 For more details on Notre Dame, see Anne-Marie Yvon, ‘La maîtrise de Notre-Dame aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles’, 8e centennaire de Notre-Dame de Parts, Congrès 1964 (Paris, 1967), 359–99Google Scholar
7 In French choral music the basse-taille, literally ‘low tenor’, was a baritone, the taille was a tenor, and the haute-contre was an unusual high tenor range, almost equivalent to the alto It was sung neither by castrati nor in falsetto Towards the end of the century, the basse-taille often shared the music of either the bass or the taille, and eventually it was eliminated as a separate voice part in the choirGoogle Scholar
8 François Léon Chartier, L'ancien chapitre de Notre-Dame de Parts et sa maîtrise (Paris, 1897), 126 The actual value of this amount is difficult to translate into modern terms A livre was worth a little less than an English shilling of the period, according to Arthur Young (cited in John Lough, An Introduction to Eighteenth Century France, London, 1960, vi) It is perhaps more useful to assess the value in relation to the figures given below for SS InnocentsGoogle Scholar
9 Bernier entered the service at Versailles in 1723, and kept the two positions until 1726Google Scholar
10 See Brenet, Michel, Musiciens de la Sainte-Chapelle du Palais (Paris, 1910), for the few details on these composers, and for some reviews of motet performances (esp pp 305ff)Google Scholar
11 La musique à la cour de Louis XIV et de Louis XV d'après les mémoires de Sourches et Luynes, ed Norbert Dufourcq (Paris, 1970), 159 The Duc de Luynes writes that in 1753 the budget for music was 10,000 livres and that there were 17 or 18 musiciansGoogle Scholar
12 Brenet, Musiciens de la Sainte-Chapelle, 314Google Scholar
13 Calendrier musical universel (repr Geneva, 1971–2) (1788), 47 (for 11 March 1787)Google Scholar
14 Gazette de France (1791), 155 (29 April)Google Scholar
15 See Pierre, Constant, Histoire du Concert Spirituel 1725–1790 (Paris, 1975), 220–2, for detailsGoogle Scholar
16 Calendrier musical universel (1789), 65Google Scholar
17 Abbé Lebeuf, Histoire de la ville et de tout le diocèse de Parts, 7 vols (Paris, c 1750, new edn Paris, 1883, repr Brussels, 1969), i, 47.Google Scholar
18 See ibid for the size of the parish A painting of the church and cemetery dating from about 1550 survives at the Musée CarnavaletGoogle Scholar
19 See Jacques Antoine Dulaure. Histoire physique, civile et morale de Paris. 2nd edn. 10 voli. (Paris, 1823). ii. 286, 292 The bas-reliefs that decorated it were by Jean Goujon.Google Scholar
20 William Cole. A Journal of my Journey to Paris in the Year 1765. ed. Francis Griffin Stokes (London, 1931), 297–8. The gloomy interior is porirayed in a painting, now in the Musée Car navalet, dating from 1787, just before the church was torn down.Google Scholar
21 Thicknesse, Philip, A Year's Journey through France (2nd edn, London, 1778), ii, 186 The author's views are seldom orthodoxGoogle Scholar
22 Events reported in Louis Petit de Bachaumont, Mémoires secrets pour servir à l'histoire de la république en lettres en France, 36 vols (London, 1777–89), xv, 248 (3 August 1780)Google Scholar
23 Sauvai, Henri, Histoire et recherches des antiquités de la ville de Paris, 3 vols (Paris, 1724, repr Geneva, 1973), i, 359Google Scholar
24 Pierre Thomas Nicolas Hurtaut and Magny, Dictionnaire historique de la ville de Paris, 4 vols (Paris, 1779; repr Geneva, 1973), iii, 358Google Scholar
25 Pierre, Histoire du Concert Spirituel, 235 Gaumé was preceded in concert performances by maîtres Lallouette of Notre Dame in 1726 and La Croix of the Sainte-Chapelle earlier in 1728 (All the statistics cited for Concert Spirituel appearances below represent a minimum figure, since Pierre's catalogue, while authoritative, lacks details for many of the concerts)Google Scholar
26 This event was noted in the ‘Livre des Deliberations des assemblées’ of the SS Innocents on 18 July of that year See AN, LL 760, f 136v (This volume of deliberations includes the years 1717–56)Google Scholar
27 IbidGoogle Scholar
28 See Pierre, , Histoire du Concert Spirituel, for details It would seem the reception of the later works was less than favourableGoogle Scholar
29 A Cantate domino, no 251 in the Catalogue thématique des sources du grand motet français (1663–1792), ed Jean Mongrédien (Munich, 1984), which is attributed to ‘Monsieur Bordery’ A work with this title by Bordier was given at the Concert Spirituel on 15 May 1738Google Scholar
30 A basse-contre is a bass It is frequently designated as such to distinguish it from the basse-taille The rarer term haute-taille means the same as taille, and serves to make the same distinction The scribe here illustrates the changing taste in French continuo playing The basse de violon is a low member of the violin family, popular in France early in the eighteenth century, that was at this time giving way to the celloGoogle Scholar
31 AN, LL 760, f 221 Louis XV's recovery from a near-fatal illness, suffered while leading his army in the north of France this year, was a cause for great jubilation and innumerable Te deums throughout the realm The nickname of Louis 'le Bien-Aimé“, which seems bizarre in the context of his later reign, dates from this timeGoogle Scholar
32 For the rises see AN, LL 760, f 198 (for 1740) and f 254 (for 1751) For the financial accounts for 1760, see AN, H 4736. For references below, note that each year of accounts is catalogued with a subsequent number, e g H 4737 for 1761, H 4741 for 1765, H 4752 for 1776, etcGoogle Scholar
33 AN, H 4443 accounts of St Jacques de la Boucherie for 1786Google Scholar
34 See AN, H 4433, ff 79–85Google Scholar
35 See for example James R Anthony, French Baroque Music from Beaujoyeulx to Rameau (rev edn, New York, 1978), 175, for an account from 1665Google Scholar
36 See Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale (hereafter BN), H 594 and H 596Google Scholar
37 Journal de musique historique, théoretique, et pratique (December 1770), 46–7Google Scholar
38 ‘Fait le 26 Xbre / 1765 pour les St Innocents’ See BN, MS 9894Google Scholar
39 AN, LL 761, f 40v, for 10 September 1764 This volume covers the years 1756–84Google Scholar
40 Jean Benjamin de LaBorde, Essai sur la musique, 4 vols (Paris, 1780), iii, 437 LaBorde was also a pupil of RameauGoogle Scholar
41 AN, LL 761, f 70v The ‘chant sur le livre’ referred to is a kind of improvised harmonization of the chant by the choir, cultivated in the French church for many centuriesGoogle Scholar
42 Journal de musique historique, théoretique, et pratique (March 1771), 207Google Scholar
43 See Catalogue thématique, ed Mongrédien, 204 This is confirmed by Laborde in his Essais (iii, 474), who says its success that year led to Roze's promotion to the cathedral at AngersGoogle Scholar
44 According to Mongrédien, La musique en France, 171 He cites Roze himself, who admits that his instruction ended at the age of 10Google Scholar
45 Fage, La, ‘Abbé Roze’, Le plein-chant, 6 (June 1861), quoted in Jean Mongrédien, Jean-François Le Sueur Contribution à l'étude d'un demi-siècle de musique française, 2 vols (Berne, 1980), i, 18–19Google Scholar
46 Joseph François Michaud, Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne (Paris, 1856), s v ‘Roze’ Roze actually left the post in 1780Google Scholar
47 AN, LL 762, f 2v for 4 March, f S for 30 March This volume covers the period from 1784 until 1786Google Scholar
48 Mongrédien, Jean-François Le Sueur, 1, 65Google Scholar
49 Cited in Félix Lazare, Dictionnaire administratif et historique des rues et monuments de Paris (2nd edn, Paris, 1855), 433 As the cemetery was cleared, the bones were removed to caves under the present Place Denfert-Rochereau, where they became the first residents of the extensive catacombs one may visit today One account suggests that two million bodies had been laid in the cemetery See Pillement, Georges, Paris disparu (Paris, 1966), 332Google Scholar
50 Dulaure, Histoire, viii, 352Google Scholar
51 BN, H 4762, ‘Préamble’ The accounts for this year are preceded by a history of the events of the year, including copies of various documents and agreementsGoogle Scholar
52 The necessary alterations and additions were made by Sajou and several others See Lazare, Dictionnaire, 433Google Scholar
53 AN. H 4762, Prémble' The details below are also from this source.Google Scholar
54 See the introduction to the accounts for St Jacques et les SS Innocents for 1786, AN, H 4443, f. 11.Google Scholar
55 See Registre de Commitée de la paraisse St Jacques et les Innocents', AN. LL 783. f. 6v (for 5 January 1787). He was awarded 300 livres for des payments et des honoraires relativement aux depenses de Musique occasionner pour la celebration de la fete des SS Innocents'.Google Scholar
56 Calendrier musical (1789). 66.Google Scholar