Music and Musicians in French Saintes-Chapelles 13th - 18th Century – MMSC

This project, involving a team of musicologists, historians, historians of art, archaeologists and engineers, proposes a global re-examination of the phenomenon of the Saintes-Chapelles in the light of the sonic realities marking the ceremonies that took place inside them on a daily basis, focusing particularly on the music, both monophonic and polyphonic, that marked the passage of time. To this point, scholarly study of these chapels has focused largely on their architectural features and their juxtaposition of political and religious aspirations. This project thus proposes a unique perspective from which to experience the interior of these buildings, all the more fascinating since one of their distinctive characteristics was the fact that they were reserved for the sole pleasure of the royal or princely founders.
The foundation in 1248 of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris by St Louis gave rise to the construction of about twenty Saintes-Chapelles between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, of which more than half are still extant. These churches, founded by the kings of France and their offspring to house their most precious relics, are among the most spectacular Gothic edifices in France, and yet relatively little is currently known about the rituals and rich musical life that characterized them. Contingent upon the resources at their disposal, the canons responsible for the daily execution of the mass and office assured that talented singers were employed during the celebration of the ceremonial in a manner which honoured the founders of these institutions and the relics they housed, and in a manner corresponding to the beauty of the buildings. Preliminary research has already confirmed that great attention was accorded to such musical activity not only in the most prominent Saintes-Chapelles (Paris, Dijon, Bourges, Chambéry), but also in the most humble ones (Châteaudun, Thouars, Aigueperse, Riom). In a Christian conception of the world, the term “Creation” was believed to be exercised primarily by God. But these foundations were in many respects “comprehensive works of art”, whose beauty was intended as a reflection of celestial harmony.
An important characteristic of this project is the interdisciplinary approach it brings to the study of the sources: institutional (concerning the musical personnel, the ceremonial or the administration of the chapter), liturgical (the calendar, as well as the texts and chants found in various service books) and musical (identification of the music performed during specific celebrations), integrating links with the history of art the better to examine the organization of the internal space of the buildings, and employing the most innovative technical possibilities for the virtual recreation of these spaces, both visual and aural. Covering an extended period of time — from St Louis to the French Revolution — the project essentially focuses on the Golden Age of a cappella polyphonic music, namely, the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, during which the composition and performance of the most progressive music depended on the personal and financial resources at the disposal of religious institutions. In that chronological and methodological frame, this project suggests a more flexible definition of the Sainte-Chapelle than has usually been proposed.
The completion of the project will result in a web-site featuring databases including information related to the prosopography, bibliography, and documents relevant to the study of the Saintes-Chapelles, critical editions and facsimiles of important documents, music, and liturgical sources, and a three-dimensional model of the Sainte-Chapelle in Dijon (destroyed in 1802), complete with recordings of a selection of musical celebrations, which the extant sources allow us to reconstruct with precision. Furthermore, a number of media will be employed to disseminate the results of this research: workshops, lectures, and an illustrated book.