The Ranums' Panat Times
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The Ranums' Panat Times |
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opening page of Patricia's "Musings" "French" cahiers for 1676 The chart of Guise activities show the princesses coming out of mourning and resuming a social role. For Mme de Guise that meant spending part of the year at court and part in her duchy of Alençon. The Florentine agents inform us, however, that she occasionally made a hasty trip to Paris and stayed for only a day or so: and each time — be it in 1676 or in subsequent years — it is as if she had come especially to attend a service at which Charpentier's music. When she was in Paris, she generally visited her sister, Mme de Toscane, at Montmartre. For Mlle de Guise this meant presiding over her "court" at the Hotel de Guise and making frequent visits to her sister, the abbess of Montmartre — where she and the abbess did what they could to control the headstrong Toscane and keep her away from the temptations of court. And so, each week she prepared a party at the Hotel de Guise for Toscane, followed by a ride in the Bois de Vincennes (and, I presume, a halt for refreshments at Mlle de Guise's retreat, "La Ménagerie," at Bercy). The French cahiers for this year mark the appearance of several trends that will continue into the 1680s. First, the emphasis upon the high holidays of the Infant Jesus begins. Judging from the fact that Monsieur and Madame made a point of attending Christmas Eve services at the Theatins (something they generally did not do !), I surmise that H. 393 and its accompanying pieces were written for performance at the Theatines, although use at one of Mlle de Guise's chapels (the Mercy or Montmartre) that night — or the next day — would seem likely. A second trend is the emphasis upon converting Huguenot women. We know that Mme de Guise was very actively forwarding her royal cousin's program of bringing Protestants back into the fold; but the Floretines inform us that Mlle de Guise was also placing Protestant girls in convents, where they would then be pressured to convert. It is therefore important that the first oratorio in honor of St. Cecilia — where the text inevitably focuses on her attempts to convert her bridegroom and new brother-in-law by reason rather than by force — coincides not only with the creation of a special house for converts in Alençon but with public conversion of one of Mme de Guise's protegés at the Jesuit church of Saint-Louis. Note the arrival on the scene of the Guise ensemble: hd, d and b, often joined by two treble instruments, which I will henceforth highlight with bold type. And is the hc who begins to sing with a taille and a bass Charpentier himself?
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