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Go to the
opening page of Patricia's "Musings"
Read more about Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Read Patricia on Word-Music Relations
Charpentier's Compositions
Activities around Charpentier that may help us
understand the raison d'être
of his compositions
Note: these pages were first
published in the late 1990s, and they were several years old at the time. During
the past decade, new findings have sometimes led to other conclusions. Try,
therefore, to compare the pages listed below with my later writings.
I have made available to scholars the evidence I
have found about things that took place each year during the 1670s and 1680s, to
suggest how these details are reflected in the notebooks of the Mélanges
year after year. These
materials are divided into three groups
(In
January 2005 I completed putting my chronological charts of Charpentier's
notebooks, cahier by cahier (through 1687) on line, as well as my
charts of Guise activities. I offer no "evidence for dating" for these final
seven years, because I never wrote the appropriate chapters. I trust
that, for the 1680s, my presentation in Portraits around Marc-Antoine
Charpentier will suffice. I believe that the color-coding on these charts
speaks eloquently about the shift from Guise-centered compositions to
royalty-centered pieces that occurred circa 1680.)
I have used color-coding throughout
these discussions:
-
BLUE
= Mlle
Marie de Lorraine de Guise, age 55, whose involvement is shown by
blue type, just as music for the Virgin, her patron saint (who is generally depicted in a blue
gown), will be shown by blue type. (Mlle de Guise was born on August 15,
the Ascension, the principal feast day of the Virgin, and she not only was
named for the Virgin but was a devotee of the
Virgin.)
Since Mlle de Guise became somewhat inseparable
with her sister, the Abbess of Montmartre, between 1675 and 1680, I am showing
Montmartre as blue (sometimes mixed with
red when Mme de Guise seems involved).
Using blue for Montmartre seems appropriate, because there was a strong
devotion for the Virgin at
the abbey.
-
RED
= her ward and adolescent nephew, Joseph Louis
de Lorraine, the young Duke of Guise; and his young wife, Elisabeth (Isabelle) d'Orléans, a royal princess of the House of Orléans who soon
came to be known as "Mme de
Guise." Isabelle was
the first cousin of both Louis XIV and his brother, "Monsieur," Duke
of Orléans. Activities involving her
will also be shown in red type,
to suggest her royal status. References to Mme de Guise's
mother, Marguerite de Lorraine, Dowager Duchess of
Orléans, appear
in maroon.
-
PURPLE
= King
Louis XIV, the
Queen, and their son, the
Dauphin. Mme de Guise was very close to
these cousins. Their regal status is suggested by purple type.
-
FUCHSIA
= the theater, first Molière
(an old family "friend" of the Charpentiers) and then his successors. Works
written for them appear in this flashy fuchsia type.
-
The Jesuits , the
Theatines and the fathers of the
Mercy are indicated by rather "florid"
types that suggest their florid worship services. By the early 1670s, Charpentier clearly
had begun working for the Jesuits; and then in 1675 Mme de Guise obtained
a chapel in the Theatine church.
-
OLIVE
= the Infant Jesus. After 1675, both princesses became
involved in projects that are named after the Holy Child. This rather sad
color suggests the Mount of
Olives.
-
TEAL
= M. Du Bois, director of the Guise
Music, Latinist, and sometime friend of Port-Royal, where Charpentier's sister was
a converse nun.
To suggest the modesty of this convent, references
to Du Bois and Port-Royal will
be in teal, a somber variant of the greens and turquoise I use for the other two religious
houses.
-
GREY
= one of two prelates: Gabriel de Roquette, bishop of Autun, described by sources
as Mlle de Guise's "Tartuffe." He exerted considerable influence over Mlle
de Guise throughout these years.
Roquette does not appear
to have commissioned any music, although it is possible that his close friend,
François Harlay de Chanvallon, Archbishop of Paris, may have done
so.
In addition, these charts employ, for dates:
-
bold type: this marks
activities mirrored in one of the two series of notebooks, perhaps
that very month but perhaps the beginning of a Guise-centered activity
-
colored bold type
: an activity that appears related to a specific individual
-
italicized bold type
: a work that corresponds to an event attended by one of the Guises
or their friends (and perhaps involving music)
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