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Return
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Go to the
opening page of Patricia's "Musings"
Read Patricia's pages on Marc-Antoine
Charpentier
See other Musings
about Word-Music relations
"La Musique Françoise" — à prononcer comme le
prénom féminin?
— to be pronounced like the woman's name?
ou /or
Quelques doutes sur le bien-fondé d'une prononciation
soi-disante historique de la langue française...
Some doubts about a so-called historical pronunciation of French
See my related Musing on the
pronunciation of the letters "OI",
which provides examples from old authors; and also my
Factoid
on Mme de Montmartre and how she pronounced oi in 1680
À plusieurs reprises, l'été dernier
(2001), j'ai entendu, sur France Musiques, de jeunes musiciens français
corriger le "speaker" avec qui ils s'entretenaient sur la musique française
des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. "Ah, non,
affirmait ces musiciens, avec la plus grand certitude possible, on doit
dire la Musique françoise [franswaze]".
Cela fait de la peine, de voir se répandre,
en France, une erreur de la taille de celle-là! Il est à souhaiter
que ces musiciens mauvais musicologues et mauvais historiens de leur propre
langue, se mettent à consulter des grammaires de l'époque.
Ils y apprendront que quand on employait François /Françoise
pour parler que quelque chose de "Français" — Académie
Françoise, Musique Françoise, ou "bon François"
— on prononçait le mot comme s'il s'écrivait "Français,
Française": (franseh, franseze) En revanche, le prénom se
prononçait comme il s'écrivait: "Franswa", "Franswaze" ou,
si l'on veut lui donner un petit parfum archaïque, "Fransweh",
"Fransweze".
Several times last summer (2001), I heard, on France Musiques radio, young
musicians, native Frenchmen and French women, correct the person interviewing
them about French music of the 17th and 18th centuries. "Ah, no," these musicians
would assert with utter certainty, "you should say la Musique
Françoise" (pronounced like the woman's name).
It is painful to see such an enormous error spread through France and take
root! It would be a great idea for these musicians — who are not only
bad musicologists but also bad historians of their native tongue — to
consult a few grammar books published during those centuries. If they did,
they would learn that when one used François or
Françoise to talk about something "French" — French
Academy, French Musique, or a "loyal Frenchman" — the
word was pronounced as if it were written with a a: Français,
Française. On the other hand, the names François or Françoise
were pronounced as they were written: "Franswa," "Franswaze" (or, if you
insist on sounding a bit archaic, "Fransweh" or "Fransweze").
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