«Les Grands Oratorios À L'église Saint-Eustache» and the Parisian

«Les Grands oratorios à l’église Saint-Eustache» and the Parisian Press

Jennifer Walker (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) [email protected]

On 15 January 1900, multiple Parisian newspapers announced an upcoming series of oratorio performances that was to take place at the church of Saint- Eustache during the coming months. Generally speaking, announcements such as these are unremarkable in themselves. Yet these announcements were curious, for the headlines prefaced the announcement with the phrase «les grands oratoires comiques»1. The juxtaposition of «comiques» — the association of which with the opéra-comique would not have been lost on readers — with a Parisian parish church intended for private worship was striking, and would come to serve as perhaps the most apt description of the events that would soon unfold — so much so that the critic Henry Mortimer quipped that the series of performances was sure to be successful by virtue of the humor of the situation, writing that «when one has laughter on one’s side, one is very close to success»2. Indeed, Mortimer proved to be correct: the concert series ultimately garnered overwhelmingly positive reviews by critics with varying ideological and aesthetic allegiances. While the preparations for the 1900 Exposition Universelle took up the lion’s share of the Parisian press, Eugène d’Harcourt’s series of oratorio performances nonetheless commanded a surprisingly substantial portion of journalists’ attention, due in no small part to objections raised by figures such

1. L’Estafette 1900: «Les grands oratoires comiques: C’est le jeudi 18 janvier à 8 h. 3/4 du soir qu’au lieu à Saint-Eustache l’audition du Messie de Haëndel. Orchestre est chœurs (300 exécutants) sous la direction de M. Eugène d’Harcourt». 2. Mortimer 1900: «Le ‘théâtre’ Saint-Eustache est un bon mot, il fera rire. Lorsqu’on a les rieurs de son côté on est bien près du succès». Journal of Music Criticism, Volume 3 (2019), pp. 109-131 © Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini. All rights reserved. Jennifer Walker as Cardinal François-Marie-Benjamin Richard de la Vergne (hereafter, Cardinal Richard), the Archbishop of Paris, and a senator from Aveyron, Joseph Fabre. They publicly bemoaned the prospect that such performances transformed the church into the «theater of Saint-Eustache» and, therefore, that the Catholic church had finally succumbed to the so-called secularizing influence ofthe Republic. Critics and commentators quickly responded to their strident dissent, and a controversy ensued that rivaled that of a major political event: to many writers, it was these overblown reactions and counter-reactions to the concerts that justified the likening of Saint-Eustache to an «oratoire comique». Amidst ongoing tensions between the Catholic Church and the French Republic, d’Harcourt’s concert series at Saint-Eustache could easily be read as simply one more sticking point in a long string of conflicts between Catholic traditionalists and «secular» Republicans, a cleavage that has come to dominate scholarship on the subject. Although the Archbishop and Senator Fabre couched their arguments in language that addressed the proper use of sacred space and the matter of ticket sales, more significant questions of ownership underscored these practical concerns. What drove their arguments was the fear that the «secular» Republic might successfully appropriate the Catholic Church as a meaningful and broadly appealing facet of Republican identity. Analyzing the narratives created by the press coverage of d’Harcourt’s concerts reveals that this fear was perhaps not unfounded after all. Contrary to the Catholic objections raised to these performances that claimed that paid concerts in church settings constituted a transformation from sacred sanctuary to secular stage, members of the press frequently configured the performances as religious events in such a way that their appeal to Republican audiences and ideology was not lost. This sense of reconfiguration was supported by the concert programs themselves: the music performed at Saint-Eustache carried with it its own ideological baggage that shaped the ways in which church and government officials, critics, and the general public came to view the Church’s relationship to the Republic. Alongside such perennial favorites as Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion, the performance and reception of the series’s high-profile premiere of Jules Massenet’s La Terre promise demonstrated how music could simultaneously function as a model of religious devotion through sacred music and also as a symbol of a Republican brand of Catholicism. After an analysis of the critical response to the concerts at Saint-Eustache and a brief study of Massenet’s La Terre promise, I demonstrate in the article how the fluidity of these narratives challenges the long-standing assertion that Republicans and Catholics, in Ralph Gibson’s words, «could not stand each other in the nineteenth century»

110 «Les Grands oratorios à l’église Saint-Eustache» and the Parisian Press by illuminating instead the many crossovers between the church and the Republic at the turn of the twentieth century3.

The Theater of Saint-Eustache?

«Les Grands oratorios à l’église Saint-Eustache» opened with Handel’s Messiah on 18 January 1900. Led by d’Harcourt, a choir of over three hundred singers performed to a packed house. Special platforms to accommodate the massive choir and orchestra had been erected, and tickets ranging in price from two to twelve francs sold out well in advance. The series continued with four further concerts, scheduled one per month until April. The second concert, on 15 February, featured a performance of Berlioz’s Requiem alongside two excerpts from Gounod’s Mors et Vita. On 15 March, audiences heard Richard Wagner’s La Cène des Apôtres and the premiere of Massenet’s La Terre promise and, on 12 and 13 April — Holy Thursday and Good Friday — the series closed with a performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, played in two parts between the two days. As Katharine Ellis has suggested, d’Harcourt intended to perform a similar concert series as part of the 1900 Exposition Universelle4. He submitted a proposal to present Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and other, more modern French oratorios to Alfred Picard, the Exposition’s Commissioner General, in 1899 — an idea which was, in the mind of the critic Arthur Dandelot, «praiseworthy», since it would provide a space for «exclusively religious concerts»5. In a letter to the Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts, who initially showed some interest, d’Harcourt asked for official support for his concerts and offered additional assistance with other events should his proposition be rejected which, in the end, it was6.

3. Gibson 1991. 4. Ellis 2008, p. xvi. 5. Dandelot 1900: «La louable conception de M. d’Harcourt, d’organiser, en vue de l’Exposition, des séances exclusivement consacrées à l’art musical religieux, m’a fait ressouvenir des théories de l’auteur de Fervaal et, n’ayant pas répondu sur le moment aux opinions émises par M. d’Indy, je le fais maintenant durant l’accalmie des heures de villégiature». 6. d’Harcourt 1899: «J’ai l’honneur, suivant votre désir, de vous envoyer ci joint la copie du projet d’auditions musicales que j’ai adressé, il y a plus de trois mois, à Monsieur le Directeur de l’Exposition Universelle. Comme vous avez paru vous intéresser à mes idées et à mes plans, que vous m’avez fait l’honneur de conserver, j’espère que vous voudrez bien les appuyer, à 111 Jennifer Walker Parish council minutes from Saint-Eustache indicate that d’Harcourt’s request to use the church coincided with his plans for the Exposition. At some point prior to July 1899, d’Harcourt approached the church with his request, and soon thereafter, it was accepted by the parish priest, Father Gaultier de Claubry7. Between June and November 1899, the dates of the concerts were fixed, 12 and 13 April included, regardless of some resistance to Father Claubry’s suggestion that all Holy Thursday services be cancelled in order to accommodate d’Harcourt’s concert series8. Father Claubry’s unquestioning acceptance of d’Harcourt’s proposal engendered an embittered response from both church and government officials, a reaction that rivaled that of a major political event. On 10 January, Cardinal Richard, the Archbishop of Paris, wrote a letter to Claubry outlining his concerns; three days later, on 13 January, the letter was published in the Catholic weekly, Semaine religieuse:

I regret that you have not communicated the program of concerts announced in your church in advance. The first three are to take place at 8:45 in the evening. At this time, the holy sacrament has been removed from the tabernacle. I can consent to a concert composed of serious pieces, provided, however, that the meeting has the serious character appropriate in a church, even though this meeting is not accompanied by a liturgical office. It is only as an exception that I permit the concerts announced in the programs. I could not approve a church to habitually become a great religious concert hall. I know that the distinguished men who prepared the musical ceremonies of Saint-Eustache were animated by Christian moins que vous ne préfériez en faire votre chose, auquel cas, je mets à votre disposition ma collaboration pour l’intérêt artistique général. Veuillez agréer, Monsieur le Ministre, l’expression de mon profond respect». 7. Conseil de fabrique 1899: «Le conseil, dans le circonstance, estime que la question étant engagée il n’a pas à prendre de délibération, toutefois il tient à consigner qu’il admet en principe ces auditions le programme devant en être arrêté d’accord avec Mgr. le Curé. Il ratifie en conséquence la lettre de Mgr. l’Abbé Gaultier de Claubry, mais sous réserve que si une audition devait être donnée le jeudi Saint à l’office du soir, elle ne serait pas payante. Enfin il fixe à 500 fr. par audition, payables d’avance, la redevance qui serait versée à la Fabrique». 8. Ibidem: «Au sujet des auditions dont il est question dans ce procès-verbal, un Membre demande si on a fixé l’heure à laquelle aura lieu celle du Jeudi Saint. M. le Curé répond que cette heure n’est pas encore déterminé, mais qu’il est d’avis, le cas échéant, de supprimer cette année l’office du soir le Jeudi Saint». 112 «Les Grands oratorios à l’église Saint-Eustache» and the Parisian Press sentiments and seek to honor great religious art through these ceremonies. But ceremonies of this kind, renewed periodically, gradually diminish respect for our churches, that we getting used to considering it as an orchestra hall. For a very long time, we have performed each year on Good Friday at Saint-Eustache church, Rossini’s Stabat with great solemnity. The Oratorio of the Passion will, this year, replace the Stabat. On Holy Thursday you will take care, Father, that the tomb will be prepared in the chapel of catechisms so that the faithful can adore the holy sacrament there throughout the day, without being embarrassed in their acts of piety by the concert that will take place that day. We must, in effect, religiously conserve the traditions of the church for Holy Week by reserving serious acts of Christian piety for the days consecrated for the memory of the grand mystery of the passion of our Lord and by the preparation to fulfill the Easter duty. If other musical ceremonies were required of your church in the future, you must, Father, see me, and they could only take place with my express authorization. Please accept, Father, the assurance of my devout affection. François, Cardinal Richard, Archbishop of Paris9

9. Semaine religieuse 1900: «Monsieur le curé, /Je regrette que vous ne m’ayez pas communiqué à l’avance le programme des auditions annoncées dans votre église. / Les trois premières doivent avoir lieu à huit heures trois quarts du soir. A cette heure, le saint sacrement aura été retiré du tabernacle. Je puis consentir à une audition composée de morceaux sérieux, à la condition toutefois que la réunion ait le caractère sérieux qui convient dans une église, lors même que cette réunion n’est pas accompagnée d’un office liturgique. / C’est seulement à titre exceptionnel que je permets les auditions annoncées dans les programmes. Je ne pourrais approuver qu’une église devint habituellement une grande salle de concert religieux. / Je sais que les hommes distingués qui ont préparé les solennités musicales de Saint-Eustache sont animés de sentiments chrétiens et cherchent, par ces solennités, à mettre un honneur le grand art religieux. Mais des solennités de ce genre renouvelées périodiquement diminueraient peu à peu le respect du à nos églises, que l’on s’accoutumerait à considérer comme un salle orchestre. / Depuis très long-temps, on exécute chaque année, le vendredi saint, dans l’église Saint-Eustache, le Stabat de Rossini avec une grande solennité. L’Oratorio de la Passion pourra, cette année, remplacer le Stabat. / Le jeudi saint, vous aurez soin, monsieur le curé, que le tombeau soit préparé dans la chapelle des catéchismes, pour que les fidèles puissent y adorer le saint sacrement durant toute la journée, sans être gênés dans leurs actes de piété par l’audition qui aura lieu ce jour-là. / Nous devons, en effet, conserver religieusement les traditions de l’Eglise pour la semaine sainte, en réservant aux actes sérieux de la piété chrétienne les jours consacrés par la mémoire du grand mystère de la passion de Notre-Seigneur et par la préparation à l’accomplissement du devoir 113 Jennifer Walker On the surface, it appears as if the Archbishop’s discontent with Father Claubry was a matter of bureaucracy: the Archbishop begins and ends his letter by admonishing Father Claubry’s failure to seek advance authorization for non- liturgical usage of the church. Yet the letter also revealed objections to the concert series that ran deeper than bureaucratic red tape: while the Archbishop worried about the practicalities of the concurrence of the concerts with the Holy Thursday service, he was much more concerned that performances like those planned by d’Harcourt would transform the church into a «great religious concert hall», so much so that he only agreed to the concerts provided they were given with a «serious character», one appropriate to such a sacred environment. Five days later, on 18 January, the Catholic newspaper La Vérité published a similar letter, written by Senator Joseph Fabre to Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau, the Minister of Religion.

Theater posters announce, between Belle Hélène and Dame de chez Maxim, musical concerts that are going to take place at Saint- Eustache. Tout-Paris received leaflets inviting them to this show, where the price of seats varies from 12 francs to 2 francs. To what extent these practices of Catholic priests must benefit Catholicism — this is to what true devotees inquire. But it is necessary to ask you, Mr. Minister of Religion: 1. if you find that such a usage of a grand church fits within the rights of the clergy to use religious buildings for the needs of the congregation; 2. if the receipts of the Saint-Eustache theater will be subject to, as all the other theaters, to the debiting of the right of the poor10.

While Fabre’s objection to the «theater of Saint-Eustache» mirrored that of the Archbishop’s, his concern centered on whether or not the receipts from pascal. / Si d’autres solennités musicales étaient à l’avenir demandées dans votre église, vous devez, monsieur le curé, m’en référer, et elles ne pourraient avoir lieu qu’avec mon autorisation expresse. / Veuillez agréer, monsieur le curé, l’assurance de mon affectueux dévouement. / François, cardinal Richard, archevêque de Paris». 10. La Vérité 1900: «Les affiches de théâtre annoncent, entre la Belle Hélène et la Dame de chez Maxim, des auditions musicales qui vont avoir lieu à Saint-Eustache. Le Tout-Paris a reçu des prospectus l’invitant à ce spectacle, où la prix des places varie entre 12 francs et 2 francs. / Jusqu’à quel point ces procédés de prêtres catholiques doivent profiter au catholicisme, c’est aux vrais dévots à s’en enquérir. / Mais il y a lieu de vous demander, monsieur le ministre des cultes: 1. si vous trouvez qu’un tel usage d’une grande église rentre dans le droit qu’a le clergé de disposer des édifices religieux pour les besoins du culte; 2. si la recette du théâtre Saint-Eustache sera soumise, comme celle de tous les autres théâtres, au prélèvement du droit des pauvres». 114 «Les Grands oratorios à l’église Saint-Eustache» and the Parisian Press the paid concerts would be subject to the droit des pauvres, a law which, from its origins in the late seventeenth century, taxed income from theaters like the Comédie-Française and the Opéra and allocated the funds for the poor11. Fabre’s question of whether or not the proceeds from d’Harcourt’s concert series would be subjected to the droit des pauvres affirmed both the Archbishop and Fabre’s fears that the church was becoming a concert hall: on the one hand, the law made no provision for concerts in churches, and thus d’Harcourt was under no legal obligation to comply. On the other hand, such protestation on the part of high-ranking Church and government officials linked the commercial church concerts with the secularizing and demoralizing effect of the theater that Catholic traditionalists so desperately wanted to avoid. The Archbishop and Fabre’s decisions to make their objections public was symptomatic of their desire to reassert their claim to control over the Church and to wrest it back out of the hands of secularizing Republicans who, in their eyes, took no issue with transforming the church into a theater. When asked by a writer for La Gazette de France to explain why the Archbishop’s letter had been given so much publicity, one Abbé Thomas, the Archbishop’s former secretary, explained the reasons behind the Church’s protests: «Because, on one hand, it is too late to oppose the announced concerts and, on the other hand, we must avoid that these concerts could be seen as a precedent, which other priests in Paris could use as authorization»12. Abbé Thomas then went on to note that the publicity given to d’Harcourt’s concert series had prompted another Parisian priest to request permission to stage a similar series of paid concerts in his church. According to Thomas, such concerts, given in a non-liturgical context, «diverted churches from their true destination». For the church, this was the root of the problem: Thomas concluded the interview with this call: «let us not secularize our churches, even for an hour»13.

11. See Renaud – Riquier 1997 for a history of the droit des pauvres. 12. La Gazette de France 1900: «Dans ces conditions, monsieur le vicaire général, pourquoi la publicité donnée à la lettre de Son Eminence? — Parce que, d’une part, il est trop tard pour s’opposer aux auditions annoncées, et que, d’autre part, il faut éviter que l’on voie dans le fait de ces auditions un précédent dont les autres curés de Paris seraient en droit de s’autoriser plus tard […] Et puis, sans parler de la légalité, n’est-il pas évident qu’il est peu convenable de détourner les églises de leur véritable destination, même pour les affecter à l’exécution d’une œuvre d’art au profit d’une bonneœuvre? Ne laïcisons pas nous-mêmes nos églises, même pour une heure […]». 13. Ibidem. See fn. 12. 115 Jennifer Walker But the Church’s strategy backfired. Whereas Cardinal Richard and Senator Fabre argued that performances of works such as Messiah, Mors et Vita, or Saint Matthew Passion transformed the church into the theater, numerous writers defended the innate religious nature of d’Harcourt’s concerts to the extent that one writer accused the Archbishop of «chasing great music out of churches». In an interview with André Gaucher, Christian de Bertier, the series’ co-founder, insisted that the concerts constituted truly religious experiences. After describing the series as a «true apotheosis of religious art», he went on to explain that the decision to use Saint-Eustache was made not only because Paris lacked a suitable theater or concert hall that could accommodate the performances, but also because the sacred environment of the church would reunite the music’s (especially that of Handel’s) aesthetic beauty with its religious sentiment14. Just as Bertier argued that the music on the programs constituted an apotheosis of religious art, other writers further disputed the idea that the music itself could be considered secular and challenged the Archbishop to find a more suitable performance venue. An anonymous writer for Le Temps mused sarcastically whether the Folies-Bergère or the Eldorado ought to offer the likes of Messiah if it was not allowed to be performed in churches:

An oratorio is a secular show, if we have the narrow strictness of Cardinal Richard. But if the place of oratorios is not in the church, where will it be? Do you believe that the director of the Folies-Bergère or the Eldorado is going to put these works on his lineup? […] If the oratorio is a profane thing, Bach’s Mass in B and Beethoven’s Mass in D are also profane works because they do not have a strictly liturgical character, and from then on, we will be led by the hand of Cardinal Richard to this extraordinary conclusion that the only places where one will not be able to play religious music will be… churches15.

14. Gaucher 1900: «Il insiste aussitôt sur le caractère religieux des auditions qui se préparent. — C’est moi, me dit-il, qui eus le premier l’idée de ces oratorios qui seront une véritable apothéose de l’art religieux […] Il n’y a pas à Paris une salle de spectacle ou de concert qui puisse se prêtes à de pareilles exécutions, à cause de caractère profane de l’édifice, ici, sous les arceaux de ces voutes superbes, les émotions de l’art et les sentiments de la piété se réuniront pour donner à l’œuvre de Hændel une double beauté esthétique et religieuse». 15. Le Temps 1900: «Passons au deuxième prétexte: ‘Il n’est pas convenable de donner des spectacles profanes dans les églises’. Un oratorio est un spectacle profane, si l’on a la rigueur étroite du cardinal Richard. Mais si la place des oratorios n’est pas à l’église, où sera-t-elle? Croyez-vous que le directeur des Folies-Bergère ou de l’Eldorado va mettre ces œuvres sur son affiche? Le Dictionnaire de l’Académie dit que l’oratorio est ‘destiné à être exécuté dans une 116 «Les Grands oratorios à l’église Saint-Eustache» and the Parisian Press In a similar manner, Henry Mortimer’s front-page critique in Le Voltaire — an overtly Republican newspaper — argued that musical performances in churches were not only appropriate, but also beneficial in some cases:

However, for our part, we do not consider that there is a large problem when one gives musical performances in churches, sacred or not: does music not soothe the savage beast? And would that not be a beautiful result if, after a certain number of concerts, we saw the religious zealots and sanctimonious people, particularly cantankerous and fanatic characters, acquire this sweetness that we describe as evangelical16?

In his opinion, «Les grands oratorios à l’église Saint-Eustache» had the potential to produce the opposite result than the one proposed by Cardinal Richard. Rather than having a secularizing effect, the performance of religious music (or any music at all) could function as an agent of religious revival by transforming religious zealots (presumably ultramontanes like the Archbishop himself) into «evangelicals»: a sentiment he crystallized through the words «if only music could turn the sanctimonious into good Christians»17. The idea that the theater of Saint-Eustache signaled a Republican- driven secularization of the church was perhaps most eloquently captured by Paul Aubert, a writer for the newspaper La Paix. Auber was ambivalent to the concerns regarding the location and the chosen music: as for the performance, he found it to be mediocre at best, and he expressed his indifference to the matter of musical concerts in churches, writing that at the church, «we make appointments, we go on festival days to see the women and admire the outfits,

solennité religieuse ou dans un concert’. Si l’oratorio est chose profane, la Messe en si de Bach et la Messe en ré de Beethoven sont aussi des œuvres profanes, car elles n’ont pas un caractère strictement liturgique; et, dès lors, nous serons conduits — par la main du cardinal Richard — à cette extraordinaire conclusion que les seuls endroits où l’on ne pourra pas jouer de la musique religieuse, ce seront… les églises». 16. Mortimer 1900: «Et puis il ne faut pas se dissimuler que la protestation de M. Fabre est absolument juste. Cependant, pour notre part, nous ne considérons pas qu’il y ait grand inconvénient à ce que l’on donne dans les églises des séances de musique, sacrée ou non: la musique n’adoucit-elle pas les mœurs? […] Et ne serait-ce pas là un joli résultat si, après un certain nombre d’auditions, nous voyions les bigots et les dévôts [sic], personnages particulièrement acariâtres et fanatiques, acquérir cette douceur qu’on qualifie d’évangélique»? 17. Ibidem: «Si seulement la musique pouvait rendre les dévots bons chrétiens […]». 117 Jennifer Walker so why the hell cry because now there will be a concert»18. But his commentary unmasked the true apprehension that underlined the Archbishop and Senator Fabre’s resistance to the concert series:

The more that the Church neglects its true appointment, the more it falls into disrepute. Making money is not a good system for bringing back faith. Ah! We are far from the times when religion, in itself, was sufficient for calling the faithful to the temple, where all, prostrate at the feet of the altar, begging the remission of their sins to the priest. The Church then had omnipotence. This is the past. Today, religion leaves, heaven and hell make their cost no more, the sacristy feels the building shake, the priest sees the end of his reign approaching. And this is understood. But, like a survivor, it clings to all of its branches. As for the rest, it will accommodate religion to the taste of the day and, by a sensational number added to the repertory, it hopes to bring back under the grand vaults — almost deserted — the clientele who moved away19.

Aubert’s comments unveiled the true reason behind ecclesiastical resistance to d’Harcourt’s concert series: the Church’s fear that it had lost its influence on the religious sensibilities of Parisian Republicans. Indeed, the ‘religious taste of the day’ was shaped more by popular modern — even «secular» — ideologies than the church was ready to admit. Aubert’s words suggest that the concerts could potentially bring «secularized» Republicans back into the fold of the Church. But the «theater» of Saint-Eustache may very well have confirmed the

18. Aubert 1900: «Les solistes étaient mauvais, l’orchestre semblait maigre, seul l’orgue s’est montré irréprochable […] On a critiqué le lieu choisi. Les uns sont pour, les autres sont contre. Pour moi, je déclare volontiers qu’il m’est indifférent que l’église serve à tout ce que l’on voudra. On y donne des rendez-vous, on va les jours de grandes fêtes y voir les femmes, admirer les toilettes, pourquoi diable tant crier parce que maintenant il y aura concert». 19. Ibidem: «Plus l’Eglise se détourne de sa véritable affectation, plus elle tombera dans le discrédit. Battre monnaie n’est pas un bon système pour ramener la foi. Ah! nous sommes loin di temps ou la religion, à elle seule, était suffisante pour appeler les fidèles au temple, ou tous, prosternés au pied de l’autel suppliaient du prêtre, la rémission de leurs pêchés. L’Eglise alors avait la toute puissance. Cela est le passé. Aujourd’hui, la religion s’en va, le ciel et l’enfer ne font plus, leurs frais, la sacristie sent l’édifice trembler, l’homme noir voit la fin de son règne approcher. Et celui-ci l’a compris. Mais, comme le naufragé, il s’accroche à toutes les branches. Tout comme pour les restes, il accommodera la religion au goût du jour et par un numéro sensationnel ajouté au répertoire il espère ramener sous les grandes voutes quasi désertes, la clientèle qui s’est éloignée». 118 «Les Grands oratorios à l’église Saint-Eustache» and the Parisian Press fears of the Archbishop and his supporters, at least according to Aubert, who ended his article claiming that «there, the Republic has everything to gain»20.

Massenet’s La Terre promise: Republican Catholicism

The transformation of Saint-Eustache into an idealized Republican space had as much to do with Bertier and d’Harcourt’s choice of repertoire as it did with their usage of the space itself. While critics like Henri de Curzon and André Suarès argued that a church setting was the only one appropriate for the performance of works like Messiah and Saint-Matthew Passion, for others, such as the notoriously ultramontane Camille Bellaigue, the non- liturgical nature of the music clashed with their conviction that the only music suitable for performance in the church was that which was championed by the church itself: Gregorian chant, propagated by the Benedictines of Solesmes, and Palestrinian counterpoint, both of which formed the cornerstone of the curriculum at the Schola Cantorum21. Underlying Bellaigue’s criticism was the threat of Republican anticlericalism since, as Katharine Ellis writes, in the minds of the most ultramontane Catholics — including Bellaigue and Cardinal Richard — countering the church’s prescribed musical practices meant countering the Pope himself 22. D’Harcourt’s choice to perform Jules Massenet’s La Terre promise undoubtedly magnified the Church’s unease. Prior to 1900, the composer’s oratorios Marie-Magdeleine (1873), Ève (1875), and La Vierge (1880) were widely received as more secular than sacred due to the explicit sexualization of the eponymous Biblical women and, as Clair Rowden has shown, his operas

20. Ibidem: «La République a tout à y gagner». 21. See Ellis 2008, p. 257. She provides a short biographical note on Bellaigue that describes him as follows: «Most significant in the history of early music for his pro-Palestrinian activity. Conservative musical tastes; pro-Italian; anti-German. Became a radical right-winger after 1900. Developed and maintained close connections with the Schola Cantorum, with the Benedictines at Solesmes (where he went for retreats) and Pope Pius x; was even claimed, in Louis Gallet’s celebratory obituary for the Revue des deux mondes, as a plausible co-author of the Motu proprio of 1903. By the beginning of 1905 he had had seven papal audiences». For more on the curriculum at the Schola Cantorum and its emphasis on Gregorian chant and Palestrinian polyphony, see Fulcher 1999, pp. 30-31; Pasler 2009, pp. 617-620; Flint de Médicis 2006, specifically chapters 1, 3 and 4; and Ellis 2008, pp. 179-208. 22. Ellis 2008, p. 74. 119 Jennifer Walker Hérodiade (1881) and Thaïs (1894) were positioned firmly within Republican ideology by virtue of their disavowal of traditional Catholic doctrine23. Yet even a brief analysis of La Terre promise points to a far more fluid religious and cultural landscape, one in which music by a decidedly Republican composer could function simultaneously as a model of religious devotion through sacred music and also as a symbol of Republicanized Catholic ideology. Although completed some twenty years after his last oratorio, critics expected La Terre promise to be similar in style to those that preceded it. The press had regarded Massenet as an entirely secular composer but according to the critic Henri de Curzon, the work’s premiere was unique because it showed «what could be done in the realm of sacred music by composers, essentially men of the theater and more at ease in secular music»24. Gaston Carraud wrote that it would be futile to look for a continuation of Massenet’s earlier oratorios in La Terre promise, while Louis Schneider noted his pleasure and surprise at the ease with which the composer of Cendrillon (1899) was able to «pass from fairytale to oratorio»25. The musicologist Charles Malherbe introduced the premiere in a similar fashion:

Secular music and sacred music are responding to opposing sentiments and offer an ideal so different in principle that it seems impossible for the same hands to cultivate them with the same success. But if many religious composers have never, in effect, entered the stage, there are only few dramatic composers who have, at one time or other, worked for the altar26.

23. Rowden 2004. See also Rowden 2006, pp. 257-284; and Goldstrom 1998. 24. Curzon 1900: «Elle comprenait en effet, à la fois, une œuvre de Wagner, qui n’avait jamais été produite en France: La Cène des apôtres, et un petit oratorio de M. J. Massenet, intitulé: La Terre Promise, composé spécialement pour ces auditions. Le rapprochement était assez piquant, puisque c’était donner là une sorte d’aperçu de ce que peuvent faire, dans le domaine de la musique sacrée, des compositeurs essentiellement hommes de théâtre et plus à l’aise dans la musique profane». 25. Carraud 1900: «Il ne faut point, en effet, chercher dans le nouvel ouvrage de M. Massenet, que la Société de Grands Oratorios a fait exécuter hier à Saint-Eustache, une suite à Marie-Magdeleine, à Eve, à la Vierge: trilogie exquise, ou, avec l’incomparable séduction de sa personnalité, le musicien sut des vieux mythes de l’Ecriture dégager en vision nouvelle le charme de l’éternel féminin»; and Schneider 1900: «M. Massenet est un musicien d’une souplesse couleuvrine. Quand un compositeur peut passer de Cendrillon, conte des fées, à Terre promise, oratorio, avec une telle virtuosité cela tient du prestige. Ce qui m’a étonné aussi c’est la simplicité de sa musique sacrée». 26. Malherbe 1900: «La musique profane et la musique sacrée répondant à des sentiments si opposés et se proposent un idéal si différent qu’elles sembleraient en principe ne pouvoir être 120 «Les Grands oratorios à l’église Saint-Eustache» and the Parisian Press There were, of course, writers who rejected the idea that the sacred nature of La Terre promise had prevailed over Massenet’s secular reputation as an opera composer. Though André Suarès admitted that the work was more serious than either Ève or Marie-Madeleine, he claimed that La Terre promise «is not a model of the religious style either, and the work is often closer to the theater than to the church»27. Adolphe Jullien described the oratorio as only superficially religious, and for Réné Benoist, «secular grace dominate[d] the work»28. But even Camille Bellaigue was able to write that, save for certain passages, «La Terre promise shows a more purely sacred intention, if not inspiration». To his joy, the «Renan of the oratorio» had all but disappeared29. The idea of a successful ‘conversion’ through music is telling: a ‘Christianized’ Massenet could still garner the attention and respect of «secular» Republicans while simultaneously and in a more restrained fashion, impress one of the most ultramontane critics active in Paris during the time. Indeed, the vast majority of critics who reviewed the performance judged Massenet’s latest venture into the sacred realm to be a success, not only by virtue of its text and subject matter, but also because of its musical style. The sacred nature of La Terre promise was most often attributed to two aspects of Massenet’s composition: one, his meticulous setting of the Biblical text, and two, its markedly different musical style that recalled traditionally toutes deux cultivées avec le même succès et par les mêmes mains. Or, si bien des compositeurs religieux n’ont en effet jamais abordé la scène, il est peu de compositeurs dramatiques qui n’aient un jour ou l’autre travaillé pour l’autel». 27. Suarès 1900: «La Terre promise, qui est le quatrième oratorio de M. Massenet, fut composée de 1897 à 1899; ce n’est pas non plus un modèle de style religieux, et l’ouvrage est souvent plus près du théâtre que de l’église. Toutefois, il a quelque chose de plus grave que Ève ou Marie-Madeleine ; le musicien s’est efforcé de ne pas donner cours à la verve sensuelle qui est sa caractéristique, et il essaie à diverses reprises de forcer sa nature». 28. Jullien 1900: «Ce qui me plaît le plus dans cet ouvrage, médiocrement sévère et d’un caractère religieux bien superficiel, c’est l’agrément que présentent pour l’oreille certains thèmes agrestes et d’autres d’un exotisme un peu moderne, d’un orientalisme un peu cru, mais amusants par cela-même»; and Benoist 1900: «Moab, ou ‘l’Alliance’; Jéricho ou ‘la Victoire’; Chanaan ou ‘la Terre promise’. Malgré ces noms qui engagent et ces sous-titres imprudents, la grâce profane domine dans tout l’ouvrage». 29. Bellaigue 1900. «En général, et sous réserve faite à l’avance d’un ou deux passages particuliers, la Terre Promise témoigne d’une inspiration, au moins d’une intention plus purement sacrée. On n’appellera pas, ou presque pas, aujourd’hui M. Massenet le Renan de l’oratorio, le musicien féministe et délicieux de la piété sans la foi». 121 Jennifer Walker «sacred» works — particularly those of Handel. In texts taken verbatim from Lemaistre de Sacy’s French translation of the Vulgate, the text of Part One («L’Alliance») recalls the promise made by God to the Israelites that those who follow his law would enter into the Promised Land. Part Two («La Victoire») depicts the capture of Jericho and the famous crumbling of its walls, and Part Three («La Terre promise») celebrates the entrance of the Israelites into the Promised Land. Critics applauded Massenet’s fastidious attention to his treatment of the Biblical texts: the critic Blondel observed that «the composer deserves to be congratulated for this effort. For too long, musical works sung in the church distorted true orthodoxy; for too long, religious correctness escaped critique; it disappeared and made room for bizarre interpretations of sacred texts», and Malherbe described it as a «perfect orthodoxy and a religious accuracy that escapes all criticism»30. In a sense, the critics considered Massenet’s oratorio as a Republican Christian corrective to Catholic doctrine. Apart from the Biblical text, Massenet’s compositional choices made significant contributions to the work’s validation as sacred. If Massenet’s previous oratorios had been operas in disguise, then his newest was a paean to the Baroque, as frequent comparisons to Handel placed La Terre promise on an equal plane with those of his Baroque predecessors, whose works, according to Ellis, had served as longstanding symbols of the Republic31. Yet at the same time that the press applauded Massenet’s meticulous treatment of the Handelian counterpoint and Biblical text, a major editorial intervention and other, more subtle compositional choices appealed directly to a specific brand of Republican Catholicism that operated outside of the church’s institutional domain. The libretto eliminates a key aspect of the Promised Land narrative: specifically, the forty years that the Israelites were kept out of the Promised Land as punishment for their unwillingness to enter therein.

30. Blondel 1900. «Le compositeur mérite d’être félicité pour cet effort. Depuis trop longtemps les œuvres musicales dites d’église faussaient la véritable orthodoxie; depuis trop longtemps la correction religieuse échappait à la critique, disparaissait et faisait place à de bizarres interprétations des textes sacrés»; and Malherbe 1900: «[…] mais il n’a introduit dans sa version poétique et musicale, aucun mot qui ne fut dans le Vulgate, traduite en français par Silvestre de Sacy. A cet égard, son ouvrage demeure donc d’une orthodoxie parfaite et d’une correction religieuse qui échappe à toute critique». 31. Ellis 2008, pp. 210-240. 122 «Les Grands oratorios à l’église Saint-Eustache» and the Parisian Press Massenet’s omission of such a crucial part of the narrative therefore removes the element of God’s vengeance completely from the salvation of the Hebrew people. The textual shift also reflects doctrinal changes in the Catholic church during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Whereas post- Revolutionary doctrine focused on fear, retribution, and as Ralph Gibson calls it, «hellfire and damnation», Republicans shifted the emphasis: hell became a metaphorical state, and depictions of God as loving, forgiving, and socially- conscious emerged32. Ernest Renan’s 1863 Vie de Jésus and its emphasis on the humanity of Jesus encapsulated this transformation: perhaps Camille Bellaigue was wrong when he celebrated Renan’s absence from La Terre promise, for the removal of divine retribution from the oratorio’s narrative shifts the focus almost entirely onto the character of God as a universally kind and loving being, one favored by both Renan and the Republic. From the outset, Massenet’s compositional style underscores the softened textual narrative. The orchestral introduction presents a short, two-measure motive in C major — the key that, as Rowden has written, signifies «high moral standards, godliness, and purity» in Massenet’s œuvre — that acts as the «Promise» motive (Ex. 1)33: As La Voix (here, representing Moses) recalls the words of God’s promise, the motive reappears when he reminds the people that «the Lord made a covenant with us on Mount Horeb» (Ex. 2). Following a partially fugal (and minor-mode) depiction of God’s voice speaking through fire — one that could simultaneously symbolize both Handelian and Old Testament narratives of punishment through fire — the motive returns to remind the people of God’s promise of protection and benevolence, again in C major, as the people recall having seen God’s «grandeur and majesty»: fear of punishment has been replaced by the promise of Canaan (Ex. 3). God’s promise of a Promised Land to the people of Israel is fulfilled musically soon thereafter. As La Voix shifts from abstract narrator to Moses, Massenet introduces the «Promised Land» motive: a slowly lilting, pastoral motive in F-major that underscores Moses’ presentation of God’s promise to the Israelite people as he instructs them that they will soon cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan (Ex. 4).

32. Gibson 1988, pp. 383-402. 33. Rowden 2004, p. 121. James Harding makes a similar observation about Charles Gounod’s usage of the same key in his works. See Harding 1973, pp. 205-206. 123 Jennifer Walker

Ex. 1: «Promise» Motive (Part One, mm. 1-4).

Ob., Eh., Cl., Vl. Ó ˙ ˙ ˙ & c Œ œ Ó Œ œ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ ˙ œ œ ˙ ˙ ˙ œp œ œ ? c œ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ œ œ˙ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ˙ œ ˙ ˙ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ ˙+Hn., Tpt. ˙ ˙ Bcl., Bn., Va., Vc., Db. p √+Timp.

Ex. 2: «Promise» Motive recall (Part One, mm. 30-40).

La Voix - bœ ˙ bœ œ. bœ œ.. œ œ- œ œ ? c Ó Œ ‰. R œ J ≈. ÔR Mo - ï - se fit ve - nir tout le peu - ple, le Ob., Eh., Cl., Bn., Hn., Vn., Va., Vc., Db. +Fl., Picc., Cbn., Tpt., Tbn. 6 w ˙ b ˙ bw c ˙ #b˙˙ w Œ œbœ Œ & j œ œbœ œ œ . œ œ bœ 6 . . bœ. f f . bw œbœ ? c ˙ ˙ w Œ j œbœ œ œ œ œ Œ œ ˙ b œ b#˙˙ bw bœ œ . . bœ ˙ ˙ b œ . œ b œ w bVl.,œ Va., Vc., Db. J J b œ - J S ˙ œ nœ.. ˙ œ œ œ ? œ J ‰ œ Œ Ó ∑ peu - ple d'Is - ra - ël et lui dit: Ob., Eh., Ob., Eh., 6 Cl., Bn. Cl., Bn. nw w > > > > > > > > & Œ j œ Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ#œ . œ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ 6 . . œ. œ œ f f f Vl., Va., Vc., Db. nw ? w j œ#œ œ œ œ œ œ w Œ œ œ œ . œ œ Œ œ œ ˙ œ ˙ wFl., Picc., Ob., Eh., œ œ . . œ œ œ œ œ Cl., Bn. Cbn., . œ œ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ J œ Hn.,Tpt., Tbn. Vl., Va., Vc., Db. > > > > > > > > , œ œ œ œ œ ˙ ? œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ Ó Œ J Le Sei - gneur, No-tre Dieu, a fait al - li-ance av - ec nous à Ho-reb.

Vn., Va., Vc. ˙ ˙ ˙ Ó Œ Ó Œ & œ œ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ œ œ p f - - œ œ œ œ ? œ œ ˙ ˙ ˙ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ Óœ œ ˙ œ œ˙ œ ˙ œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ ˙ Cl., Bn., Cbn.

124

Ex. 3: «Promise» Motive recall (Part One, mm. 67-73).

Chœur d’Israël

S b ƒ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ. œ ˙ & b b c ‰ ‰ Nous a - vons en-ten-du sa voix du mi - lieu du feu!

A b ƒ & b b c ‰ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ œ ‰ œ œ œ. œ ˙ Nous a - vons en-ten-du sa voix du mi - lieu du feu!

T b ƒ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ. œ ˙ V b b c ‰ ‰ Nous a - vons en-ten-du sa voix du mi - lieu du feu!

B ƒ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ. œ ? b c ‰ ‰ ˙ b b Nous a - vons en-ten-du sa voix du mi - lieu du feu! Fl., Picc., Ob., Eh. Cl., Vn., Va., Vc. . œ œ. œ. . . œ œ œ œ œ œnœ nœ œ œ. œ. . œœ œ œ œœœ. # œ œœnœ nœ œœ. œœ. œ. œ bbb c œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œ œ. & œ J 6 œ. œ œ œ . œ. nœ. œ. nœ œ ^œ ^ . . ^œ. n^œ œ ^œ ^ ^ ^ ? b c œ œ œ n˙ œ b b œ. nœ œ œ n˙ œ œ Hn., Tpt., Tbn., Tba. J œ v rit. , S b f j j π U & b b Ó ‰ œ œ œ ˙ ‰ œ œ œ nœ œ œ ˙ j j‰ Œ Nous av-ons vu, nous av-ons vu sa Gran-deur, etœ saœ nMaœ. - jesœ - nté.˙ œ f , π A b j j ˙ U & b b Ó ‰ œ œ œ ˙ ‰ œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ œ j j‰ Œ Nous av-ons vu, nous av-ons vu sa Gran-deur, et sa Maœ. - jesœ - té.˙ œ , U T b f j j π j j V b b Ó ‰ œ œ œ ˙ ‰ œ œ œ nœ œ œ ˙ œ. œ ˙ œ ‰ Œ Nous av-ons vu, nous av-ons vu sa Gran-deur, etœ saœ Ma - jes - té. , π U B f nœ œ ˙ ? b Ó ‰ œ œ œ ˙ ‰ œ œ œ œ œ œ j j‰ Œ b b NousJ av-ons vu, nousJ av-ons vu sa Gran-deur, et sa Maœ. - jesœ - té.˙ œ

Fl., Ob., Eh., Cl., Hn., Tpt. Tbn., Vl., Timp. π π˙ ˙ n˙ U œ œ nœ œ œ ˙ n˙ ˙ n˙ œ b n˙ ˙ ? n˙ œ & b b œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ ‰ Œ œ œ nœ ˙ œ nœ ˙ œ Œ Œ rall. J π π f U ? b nœ œ œnœ œ nœ œ n˙ œ œ ˙ œ b b œ œ ˙ œ ˙ œ ˙ n ˙ ˙ œ œ nœ ˙ œ œ œnœ ˙ œ œ n˙ œ œ˙ ˙ n˙ œ ˙ ˙ Bcl., Bn., Vn., Va., Vc., Db. π π+Timp. ˙ ˙ π f π

125 Jennifer Walker

Ex. 4: «Promised Land» Motive (Part One, mm. 74-80).

? b 128 ∑ ∑ ∑ Fl., Ob. Cl. F j j j j j b 12 Œ œ bœ œ œ œ bœ j œ œ œ œ œ œ & 8 œ bœ œ nœ œ œ œ œ œ œ J œ J œ J œ œ Bn. œ œ J bw. J bw. n œ œ. #œ. nœ. bœ. ? J b 128 F La Voix f œ œ w. ? Œ. Œ. Œ. ‰ b +Vl., -Fl., É - cou - tez, Ob., Cl. p j j œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & b œ œ œ œ J œ œ. J œ œ. J J J œVl.,. Va. œ. œ. nœ. nœ. œ. œ ? œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ b Vc. J J J J œ

œ œ œ œ w. ? . . J œ b Œ Œ é - cou - tez, Is - ra - ël: j j j j œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & b œ œ œ œ œ #œ. œ. J œ. œ. œ. œ. J œ. . œ. œ. œ. ? œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ b J J J J J J œ

Given first in the future tense, Moses’ description of the Promised Land as a yet unfulfilled promise becomes a concrete reality in Part Three to identical music and virtually identical text. Appearing first as the theme for the Pastorale that opens Part Three, it soon underscores the Israelites’ entrance into the Promised Land; Moses’ earlier statement that «you will cross the Jordan into the Promised Land» has now become «here is the Promised Land» (Exs. 5-6): Thus in Part One, the Promised Land motive plays a dual function, not only foreshadowing the fulfillment of the promise itself, but also serving as a constant musical reminder of a Republican God’s kindness and his beneficent, non-retributive character, even amidstCopyright fire. ©

***

126 «Les Grands oratorios à l’église Saint-Eustache» and the Parisian Press

Ex. 5: «Promised Land» Motive recall (Part Three, mm. 1-5).

Vl., Va., Vc. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙ ∑ & b 128 ∑ - œ œ. œ œ p Bn., Va. p j j J J ? j œ œ œ œ b 12 ˙. ˙. ˙. œ œ & 8 ˙. ˙. ˙. w. ˙Timp., Vc., Cb. ˙. p ˙. w.

& b j j j œ j œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ j j œ ? œ œ œ œ œ œ b w. w. w. w.

Ex. 6: «Promised Land» Motive recall (Part Three, mm. 75-82).

rall. a Tempo p S 12 j & b 8 ∑ Œ. Œ. Œ. œ. œ. œ. œ œ ˙. œ ‰ Œ. Voiœ. - ci la Ter - re Pro - mi - se, p A 12 j & b 8 ∑ Œ. Œ. Œ. œ. œ. œ. œ œ ˙. œ ‰ Œ. Voiœ. - ci la Ter - re Pro - mi - se, p T 12 V b 8 ∑ Œ. Œ. Œ. œ. œ. œ. œ. œ œ ˙. œ ‰ Œ. Voi - ci la Ter - re ProJ - mi - se,

B p ? 12 ∑ Œ. Œ. Œ. œ. œ. œ. œ œ ˙. œ ‰ Œ. b 8 Fl., Ob., Cl.. œ. Voi - ci la Ter - re ProJ - mi - se, œ. œ. œ. rall. a Tempo œ. œ. œ. bœ. œ. œ. œ. ˙. ˙. ˙. œ œ. bœ. bœ. œ. ˙. ˙. ˙. œ & b 128 œ. œ. ˙. ˙. ˙. œ ‰ Œ. p p Bn., Va. ˙. œ œ. ˙. j ? 12 ˙. jœ œ œ ˙. ˙. ˙. jœ œ b 8 Hn.,‰ Vc.‰ œ J J ˙. ˙. ˙. œ +Eh.,˙. Bn., ˙. ˙. ˙ Timp.,. Vn., Db.. . . (bien en dehors) ˙. p

127 Jennifer Walker

S & b ∑ Œ. Œ. ‰ ‰ j Laœ terœ. -

A F j & b Œ. œ j j ‰ Laœ. terœ. - reœ pro - miœ - seœ œà nosœ pèœ. - res.œ

T V b ∑ ∑

B ? b ∑ ∑

+Vn. F & b j j j j œ - œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ j œ œ - œ œ œ œ ? œ J œ œ œ b w. ˙. œ w. ˙. œ

S j œ & b œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ ‰ Œ. Œ. - œ reœ proœ - mi - se à nosJ pè - - - res.

A p b ‰ Œ. Œ. & Œ ‰ œ œ. œ œ œà . œ œ nos pè - - - œ res.œ

T p . V b ‰ ‰ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ‰ Œ. Œ. proJ - mi - seJ à nos pè - - - res.

B p ? œ. b Œ. Œ. Œ ‰ œ œ œ œ ‰ Œ. Œ. à nos pè - res.

j j F & b œ. œ œ œ œ œ. œ œ j j j œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ ? œ œ. œ œ œ g œ. œ œ œ b œ J œ œ œ g +Vc., Db. ˙. œ. ˙ œ. p . Despite the Church’s concerns that «Les Grands oratorios à l’Eglise Saint- Eustache» signaled a threat of secularization, the narratives created by critics in the press revealed the fluidity of the Church/State binary at the end of the nineteenth century. Through their participation in the controversy unleashed by the Archbishop of Paris and Senator Fabre, critics configured the church as a

128 «Les Grands oratorios à l’église Saint-Eustache» and the Parisian Press space through which musical performances could reflect a distinctly Republican identity to an ideologically diverse audience. By the same token, it was as much the music itself that contributed to this process as it was the physical space in which the concerts took place. D’Harcourt’s programming strategies were ingenious. By programming works like Messiah that had been appropriated as a symbol of the Republic alongside works such as La Terre promise, d’Harcourt’s concerts demonstrated that France’s connection with the church was as much a part of its present as it was its heritage: at the same time that the work was deemed appropriately religious by traditionally conservative Catholic critics, it also catered directly to anticlerical Republicans. The church of Saint-Eustache thus became a key site in dismantling the polarizing dichotomy between Church and State: d’Harcourt’s oratorio concerts enacted a series of reconfigurations that allowed the Republic to retain its Catholic roots, embrace its modernity, and identify itself as a Republic that was simultaneously sacred and secular.

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Gibson 1991 Id. ‘Why Republicans and Catholics Couldn’t Stand Each Other in the Nineteenth Century’, in: Religion, Society, and Politics in France Since 1789, edited by Frank Tallett and Nicholas Atkin, London, The Hambledon Press, 1991, pp. 107-121.

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