F-Pn Vma res. 571: sacred repertories in Paris, 1632-43

Thesis

F-Pn Vma rés.571 is one of the few surviving manuscript sources preserving Latin sacred music dating from, it is generally thought, mid-seventeenth-century France. Part of the Brossard collection, it contains some 300 works scored for various vocal ensembles with and without basse-continue. Despite its large size and clear potential significance, the manuscript has featured little in any standard historical narrative, undoubtedly because the majority of its contents are transmitted anonymously and because no information as to its date or origin survives. Chapter 1, a detailed codicological study, reveals that the manuscript was copied and compiled by one scribe between c.1632 and c.1682. Using information from Brossard’s Catalogue and a biographical study of his predecessors at Meaux Cathedral, chapter 2 shows that the figure responsible for the collection must have been André Pechon, maitre de musique at the royal parish church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois in Paris between c.1635 and c.1650, and maitre de musique at Meaux Cathedral thereafter until his death or retirement in 1682. In the light of this information a number of repertories can be identified and their origins established. Chapter 3 investigates the earliest gathering (c.1632) and identifies a pair of linked repertories composed by Antoine Boesset for performance by Louis XIII’s musique de la chambre and by the nuns of the Royal Benedictine Abbey of Montmartre. Chapter 4 is concerned with the works which have been attributed to Guillaume Bouzignac and analyses another gathering (dating from c.1635) and its relationship with the manuscript F-TOm MS 168: other repertories (from sections dating from c.1639 to c.1641) connected with Saint-Germain and with events which took place in Tours in 1641 are also discussed. Finally chapter 5 examines the repertories copied at the end of Pechon’s life (c.1682), in particular a repertory scored for high voices and basse-continue similar to that identified in chapter 3. Using the plain-chant musical repertory preserved in the contemporary liturgical books from the Abbey of Montmartre, it is possible to conclusively associate these works with this important institution and to attribute them to Antoine Boesset.

Authors: Bennett, LP

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-xknmjv8oz
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Boesset; Louis XIII; sacred music; Brossard; Péchon; Montmartre; Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois; Liturgy; Louis XIV; Paris
• Subjects: Sacred vocal music; France--History--Louis XIII, 1610-1643