University of the Pacific Scholarly Commons University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 1977 The decisive turn : Chambonnières as inspirer of the French baroque organ style Rodney Craig Atkinson University of the Pacific Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds Part of the Music Commons Recommended Citation Atkinson, Rodney Craig. (1977). The decisive turn : Chambonnières as inspirer of the French baroque organ style. University of the Pacific, Thesis. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/1928 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. - ;=;----------- THE DECISIVE TURN: CHAMBONNIERES' AS INSPIRER OF THE FRENCH BAROQUE ORGAN STYLE A Thesis Presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of the Pacific r -- rc·-t:::---'--=-=----- ___:__:::_ !'~ ', ~- In Partial Fulfillment ' of the Requirements for the Degree Master· of Arts ,' by Rodney Craig Atkinson May 1977 --------=- - ' This thesis, written and submitted by is approved for recommendation to the Committee on Graduate Studies, University of the Pacific. Department Chairman or Dean: ~4_,ZiL Chairman ~> I Dated C?id:ctfjl:?~ /7 77 v (( =--~~----= ~-- p - ~-- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Appreciation is extended to Dr. David S. Goedecke for his guidance and suggestions. Loving appreciation goes to my parents, Dr. and Mrs. Herbert Atkinson, whose encouragement and support were responsible for the com­ pletion of this thesis. i i TABLE OF CONTENTS ::,:;; __ Page AC KNOW LED G~1 ENT S it LIST OF EXAMPLES v Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION 1 Problem and Purpose 1 Definitions 4 Limit. a ti ons 4 Research Procedure 5 2. REVIEW OF PRIMARY SOURCES . 7 Books 7 Articles 9 A Dissertation 1 0 Music Sources 10 3. CULTURE AND MUSIC AT THE FRENCH COURT 1 2 The G1ory of the King 1 2 Servants to the Crown 14 Religious Music and the Chapel i6 4. THE HARPSICHORD AND CHAMBONNitRES 21 I The Background of the Lute 21 Chambonni eres' l. ife 25 Traits of Chambonni~res' Music 28 iii iv Chapter Page ==-~-~ 5. THE EVIDENCE OF ORGAN MUSIC 34 Before the New Style ... 34 Beginnings of the New Style 37 D'Anglebert and Couperin 42 Four Late1· Composers .. 43 The End of the Century: Couperin, Grigny 49 6. THE CONTINUING TRADITION: EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 54 7. SUMf~ARY 0 • 0 • 0 0 • • 0 • 0 .. 0 0 56 BIBLIOGRAPHY • 0 • .. 0 - • • • • 0 • • • • • • • • • 59 LIST OF EXAMPLES ~-=-- Example Page ~- 1. Perrine, lute transcription 24 2. Chambonni~res, courante, meas. 1-4 29 3. Chambonnieres, sarabande, meas. 1-5 29 4. · Chambonnieres, sarabande, meas. 16-23 30 5. Chambonnieres, ornament chart 31 6. Chambonnieres, allemande, meas. 2-5 32 7. Chambonnieres, courante, meas. 1-3 33 8. Titelouze, "Pange lingua" (after 1624 edition). 35 9. Nivers, ''Grande Jeu,'' Livre d'orgue, meas. i 12-13 . 37 l 10. Nivers, "Recit de cromhcrne,'' Livre d'orgue, j meas. 1-2 .. 38 ~ 11. Nivers, ''Pange lingua," second Livre d'orgue, meas. 1-3 . 38 12. Lebegue, melodies 39 13. Lebegue, "Plein Jeu," meas. 1-3 40 14. Lebegue, "Une Vierge Pucelle," meas. 9-12 40 15. Gigault, Grande Jeu, "Laissez plaistre vos bestes," meas. 4-6 42 1 6. Ra i son , "Ky r i e , " me as . 1 -4 45 ::::---=-----:...-== 17. Raison, ''Second Sanctus,'' meas. 1-4 45 18. Boyvin, "Concerts pour les flutes," meas. 1-5 46 v vi Example Page R~-----=-=~ 19. Boyvin, "Recits en tai1le," meas. 1-4 47 ''"'------- -- 20. Jullien, ''Dialogue,'' rneas. 1-4 47 21. Chaumont, ''Allemande," meas. 1-4 4B 22. Chaumont, ''Fugue l~gire,'' meas. 9-11 49 23. Couperin, ''Qui tollis," Messe pour les con- vents, meas. 1-4 . 51 24. Couperin, ''Benedictus,'' Messe pour 1es ~roisses, final three measures 51 25. Grigny, ''Plein Jeu,'' meas. 13-16 52 26. Grigny, "Dialogue,'' meas. 1-4 .. 53 , __- =::-:___ __ .. ~~---~~- Chapter 1 ~·--­ ~ -- - INTRODUCTION Problem and Purpose In his book The History of Kevboard Music to 1700, Willi Apel ponders one of the most interesting problems in organ music history: In the tradition of French organ music Titelouze's prints of 1624 and 1626 are followed by a lacuna which is not as long as the one preceding them, but long enough to make the succeeding evolution difficult to understand. Who were the composers who effected the decisive turn from Tite]ouze's strict polyphony to the richly ornamented Baroque style that appears forty years later ... ?1. Since the publication of Apel 's book in 1972, this forty~ year gap has gone unexplained. We know of the activity of a few organists during that time; nevertheless, the small amount of their music available to us does not adequately illustrate the evolution from Renaissance polyphony to the popular, ornamented, and unevenly-textured style first seen in the work of Nivers. Apel considers the possibility of "an external power• 2 an~ suggests the Jesuits, since one of th~ir aims was to adapt the church service to the tastes of the times. In his book on French Baroque music, 1wtlli Apel, The History of Keyboard Music to 1700, trans, by Hans Tischler\Bloomington; Indiana Univ.ersity Press, 1972), p. 722. 2Ibid., p. 723, 1 2 James R. Anthony is also cognizant of the problem, but ~---- 3 offers no theories. There would seem to be no composers C::::- --------­ ~ -- -- which one could offer in answer to Apel' s question, ----~---------­ However, one stylistic trait of seventeenth cen­ tury French organ music does indicate a kind of external power, and it comes from the harpsichord tradition. Manfred Bukofzer observes that Nivers, Leb~gue, Gigault; and others "assimilated those elements of clavecin music that lent themselves more or less happily to the organ idiom.•• 4 These included four elements which harpsichordists had inherited from lutenists: a predilection for dance rhythms, pbpular-type melody, a variety of ornaments, and the idio­ matic device of style bris~. resulting in uneven textures. The French organists' tise of style brisd is especially striking, since this stylistic techni~ue is based upon the short tonal duration of plucked strings. The organ has the longest tonal duration of any instrument; it is an ideal polyphonic instrument, and its nature is not conducive to a style involving arpeggiation. That an instrument so essen­ tially religious in function and association should have had such secular stylistic traits in its literature indi­ cates that a cultural atmosphere was somehow responsible 3James R. Anthony, French Baroque Music from Beaujoyeulx to Rameau (New York: W. W. Norton, 1974), p. 269. 4 Ma~fred Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era (New York: W, W. Norton, 1947), p. 172. 3 for the shift in style. Perhaps this is an external power Apel did not consider . It is also· curious that the generation of organists >.:;--- ,_.--- who gave the organ its ''new'' style5--Nivers, Leb~gue, and Gigault--have strong stylistic similarities. Two of them-­ Nivers and Leb~gue--were known as harpsichordists as well as organists. If we are to account for a ''decisive turn," four questions must be asked, based upon the preceding consid- erations. First, what was the artistic ambience in seven- teenth-century France that could have imposed a secular keyboard style upon a church-associated instrument? Second, what harpsichord composer or composers had sufficient con­ tact with these organists to influence them to use a more secular style? Third, what stylistic similarities exist between that composer and the organists whose wo-rk he may have influenced? Fourth,. are any of the same stylistic similarities present in the organ works of other seven­ teenth-century organ composers? By answering these questions, the writer intends to present evidence that Jacques Champion de Chambonnieres was the inspirer of these four stylistic traits which appeared in French Baroque organ music during the second half of the seventeenth century. In so doing we shall regard his influence as a part of the cultural and artistic 5Apel, p. 723. 4 ambience which existed in France at that time. Definitions '= o -- ~--- .-o---- _ ~--- For the purpose of this study, A.D. 1610 is ~:- -~ '--=--'--=--=-.o._o= designated as the beginning of the French Baroque period. This is Bukofzer's preference since it was near this time that recitatives in the ballets de cour were first sung. 6 It is also a convenient year since it marks the beginning of Louis XIII's reign, artd it was during his rule that monody became a regular feature of French musical composi­ tion.7 Three terms will be used in reference to styles of I organ composition. The first two, ''French Baroque organ l ti style" and ''new style," are used synonymously and refer to I il II the four stylistic elements enumerated in the earlier ~art i of this chapter. The third term, "Renaissance polyphony,'' J is used in reference to Titelouze's music. This implies a ::1 consistent use of plainchant, cantus planus techniques, ..-.. •1 I canon, and three- and four-part motet-like settings. ~c-~ -~ =~~ I Limitations i ! This course of study will be limited to a survey ~I of seventeenth-century French organ literature. Only works which appeared before 1700 will be discussed in any detail. _:: -- In this sense the paper deals with the beginnings of certain =--·::..:_=..:::_~ ~ 6sukofzer, p. 142. 7Ibid., pp. 145-146. 5 stylistic elements and not the ultimate tradition which was - ~-~-~~~ established in the eighteenth century. Two characteristics of the new organ music will not be discussed since they have no relationship with Chambonnieres. The first is the practice of listing specific registrations in organ suites.