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HomeRethinking Music in France during the Baroque Era

Rethinking Music in France during the Baroque Era

Repenser la musique en France à l’époque baroque

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Published on Monday, November 27, 2017

Abstract

Français English

Since the 1974 publication of James Anthony's book French Baroque Music, research about the music that was performed and composed in France during the Baroque era has enriched its knowledge-base and investigative approaches. And yet, studies of French music have noticeably less visibility than those of German or Italian music. The 350th anniversary of François Couperin's birth in 2018 provides an opportunity for researchers and performers to re-evaluate previous work and reflect more broadly on research perspectives for the study of French music of the 17th and 18th centuries. In response to Couperin's Les Goûts réunis and Les Nations, these reflections will relate to a geographical perimeter that extends to international dialogue and will allow new avenues for advancing research to be revealed.

Announcement

Français English

Date and place

June 20-23, 2018, Paris-Versailles-Royaumont

Organization

International organized by the Institut de Recherche en Musicologie (IReMus – CNRS, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Université de Paris-Sorbonne), the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles (CMBV) and the Fondation Royaumont.

Argument

Since the 1974 publication of James Anthony's book French Baroque Music, research about the music that was performed and composed in France during the Baroque era has enriched its knowledge-base and investigative approaches. In France, this research revitalisation has been accompanied by the considerable involvement of institutions that have fostered dialogue between musicians and researchers (the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, the Institut de Recherche sur le Patrimoine Musical en France – now Institut de Musicologie (IReMus) – the Royaumont Foundation, and the Centre Culturel de Rencontre d'Ambronay, among others). And yet, studies of French music have noticeably less visibility than those of German or Italian music.

The 350th anniversary of François Couperin's birth in 2018 provides an opportunity for researchers and performers to re-evaluate previous work and reflect more broadly on research perspectives for the study of French music of the 17th and 18th centuries. In response to Couperin's Les Goûts réunis and Les Nations, these reflections will relate to a geographical perimeter that extends to international dialogue and will allow new avenues for advancing research to be revealed.

This conference intends to group papers together based on eight principal lines of inquiry that are guiding these new approaches:

Historiography

Since the second half of the 19th century, many biographies, journal articles, music history books, and music publications have shaped the image of Baroque music in France. In what ways can we critically examine this output in the present day?

Cultural Approaches

Under new musicology's influence, having broken away from traditional history, cultural studies have opened up new investigative and scholarly fields: places of sociability, gender studies, listening methods, etc. More broadly, this renewal of perspective is extended to other spheres like court and patronage culture, corpus research, etc.

Cultural Transfers

Couperin's Les Nations and Les Goûts réunis represent two approaches to an emblematic issue of the era. Historiographically speaking, this call for national styles has raised questions about the relationship between nationalism and internationalism. Can this approach be enriched by taking a crosscurrents perspective?

Performance Studies & Practice

With the development of performance studies, the musicians’ playing has become object of study, documented by recordings now spanning more than a century. How can listening to these interpretations intersect with various images of a given composer? How has the interpretation of French Baroque music evolved with successive generations of performers?

Music Pedagogy

During the 17th and 18th centuries, production of treatises and method-books for various audiences grew exponentially. What present-day use is there for these volumes and, more broadly, for any music teaching resources used in the context of a historically-informed music pedagogy?

Music Analysis

Early music analysis is currently reinventing itself, notably by taking careful account of theoretical data of the era, or by making use of contemporary conceptual schemas, thus applying two approaches that are likely to intersect, especially in the context of digital humanities.

Technical Innovation

How does acquiring contemporary scientific and technical knowledge resonate with the renewal of current knowledge in the fields of room acoustics, instrument building, music publishing, etc.?

Outreach and Dissemination

How is French Baroque music used by different media (radio, television, film, album liner notes, newspapers, internet, concert programs, theatre productions...) and how has its image evolved?

Specific time will be reserved during the conference for performers and for discussions between musicologists and performers.

Proposals based on research and musical practice are therefore most welcome.

Submission guidelines

Proposals should be written in English or French, and should have a title, an abstract (approx. 2500 characters), as well as the author's name, email address, and acknowledgement of their institutional affiliation.

Conference languages: German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, with slides in English.

Deadline: January 31, 2018

Send to: RethinkMusicFBE2018@cnrs.fr

Organizing Committee

  • Cécile Davy-Rigaux, Laurence Decobert, Théodora Psychoyou (IReMus), Sylvain Caron (Université de Montréal)
  • Solveig Serre, Julien Charbey (CMBV)
  • Thomas Vernet (Fondation Royaumont)

Advisory Committee

  • Mario Armellini (Univ. Rouen),
  • Margaret Butler (Univ. of Florida),
  • Michele Calella (Univ. Wien),
  • Don Fader (Univ. of Alabama),
  • Thierry Favier (Univ. Poitiers),
  • Catherine Gordon-Seifert (Providence College, Rhode Island),
  • Denis Herlin (CNRS IReMus),
  • Thomas Leconte (CMBV),
  • Raphaëlle Legrand (Paris-Sorbonne IReMus),
  • Arnaldo Morelli (Aquila),
  • Davitt Moroney (Berkeley),
  • Lois Rosow (Ohio State University), Louise Stein (Univ. of Michigan),
  • Shirley Thompson (Birmingham),
  • Alvaro Torrente (Univ. Madrid)

Places

  • Bibliothèque nationale de France - 58 rue de Richelieu
    Paris, France (75002)
  • CMBV, Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs - 22 avenue de Paris
    Versailles, France (78000)
  • Fondation Royaumont
    Royaumont, France (95270)

Date(s)

  • Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Keywords

  • musicologie, historiographie, musique, baroque, transfert culturel, pédagogie, médiation culturelle, analyse musicale

Information source

  • Théodora Psychoyou
    courriel : theodora [dot] psychoyou [at] sorbonne-universite [dot] fr

License

CC0-1.0 This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.

To cite this announcement

« Rethinking Music in France during the Baroque Era », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Monday, November 27, 2017, https://calenda.org/423176

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