The Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music

Volume 6 (2000) No. 2

Jean-Noël Marchand. Cantiques spirituels (facsimile edition). Introduction by Thierry Favier. La Musique française classique de 1650 à 1800, 5648. Courlay: Fuzeau, 1999. 4 fascicles. [ISMN M-2306-5648-1. FF 204.74 ($35).]

Reviewed by Catherine E. Gordon-Seifert*

1. Racine’s Cantiques

2. The Edition

3. The Music

References

1. Racine’s Cantiques

1.1The year 1999 marked the three-hundredth anniversary of Jean Racine’s death, an occasion commemorated around the world with conferences and other events devoted to performing and discussing his works. Many of these also included performances of musical settings of his texts, perhaps the most important of these being his collection of four Cantiques spirituels.1 Racine based his first and second canticles on the first epistle of Paul, canticle three on the wisdom of Solomon, and canticle four on various parts of Isaiah and Jeremiah. The work was commissioned by Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon to be set to music for the students at Saint-Cyr, founded in 1686 by Mme de Maintenon to educate daughters of noblemen. Racine wrote the poems for Jean-Baptiste Moreau (1656–1733), who was maître de musique at Saint-Cyr. Moreau, in fact, set canticles one, three, and four in 1694; a setting of canticle two by Michel-Richard Delalande was added later. In addition to Moreau and Delalande, other composers who set the Cantiques to music were Pascal Collasse, Jean-Noël Marchand, and Michel Lambert.2 Of these, only the score to Marchand’s setting of Racine’s Cantiques spirituels is easily available to scholars and performers, thanks to Editions Jean-Marc Fuzeau.

2. The Edition

2.1 The facsimile edition of Marchand’s manuscript includes the settings of all four Cantiques, each separately bound, as well as a copy of Racine’s published text. This edition, like others published by Fuzeau, begins with a chronological list of biographical information about the composer aligned with a chronology of important events and other musical publications from the period. This is followed by the title page, more specific biographical information about the composer, a list of his works, and an introduction, given in three languages (French, English, and German). The commentary, written by Thierry Favier, includes documented information about Racine’s original text, other works set to Racine’s poems, details concerning Marchand’s setting, and performance information. Depending upon the experience of the scholar or performer with manuscript scores from this period, certain aspects of the facsimile may be problematic. There is an extensive use of French violin clef (G-1) as well as C clefs on the first through third lines; the text is not always easy to read; and the text underlay is frequently unclear. If the words in places are difficult to decipher, one can refer to the reproduction of Racine’s original published text. The musical notes, however, were copied in a neat hand and are perfectly legible. Those experienced with reading seventeenth- or eighteenth-century scores will not have any trouble using this edition.

3. The Music

3.1Very little is known about Jean-Noël Marchand (1666–1710). He was not, however, related to the famous harpsichordist, organist, and composer Louis Marchand (1669–1732). J.-N. Marchand belonged to another Marchand family of accomplished musicians and composers.3 He inherited his father’s post of Ordinaire de la Musique de la Chambre at age nine, and by 1686 he was accepted into the royal chapel as a violinist. In 1689 he received the post of organist at Notre Dame in Versailles, where he worked until his death. He was also appointed lutenist to the royal chamber in 1710, one month before he died.4 His few compositions consist primarily of sacred music, but he also wrote a pastorale, La Feinte heureuse, now lost, according to Favier’s Introduction (p. 6). The composition dates for most of his works, including his Cantiques, are not known.

3.2 Marchand’s Cantiques spirituels belonged to an ever-increasing trend at the end of the seventeenth century of setting to music religious texts in the French language (Introduction, p. 8). The Cantiques spirituels composed by Moreau, Delalande, Collasse, and Marchand are, in fact, sacred cantatas.5 Marchand’s setting, however, differs from the others in its performance requirements. Because the Moreau/Delalande and Collasse works were written for Saint-Cyr, they are chamber pieces, limited to female voices, accompanied by continuo and a few instruments.6 Marchand’s settings may have been written for performance at Notre Dame in Versailles and require a large orchestra, three vocal soloists, and choir (choral parts, however, may be sung by soloists).7

3.3 Each Cantique involves a different group of performers. The first requires three soloists—soprano, counter-tenor, and bass—and two instrumental parts written for violins (one movement uses two flutes). The second features the same soloists, who are supported by a four- to five-part orchestra (two dessus de violon, haute-contre de violon, taille de violon, and continuo group). The third canticle, written in the first person, is for bass solo, accompanied by continuo and two violin parts. This is the shortest and most unique of the canticle settings because it has a personal tone, most likely reflecting Racine’s ties to the Jansenists, and is written like a dramatic scene from an opera.8 The final canticle requires the three soloists, choir, and full orchestra.

3.4 Not only is each Cantique different, but within a canticle, Marchand cleverly contrasts instrumental forces with various vocal combinations. Musical forms and genres include airs in binary form, secco and accompanied recitatives, instrumental simphonies and ritornelles, and the apposition of soloist(s) and choir. Marchand sets Racine’s strophes of the poetry as separate musical numbers. Every strophe, then, is set in a distinctive style. The first canticle, for example, is organized into a series of airs for soprano, counter-tenor, and bass, each singing different stanzas. Some airs are accompanied by two treble instruments, and others by continuo alone. Only one strophe is set as a recitative for bass (with continuo accompaniment), and there are two short choral pieces, the choral finale accompanied by the instrumental ensemble. Instrumental ritornellos for two violins and continuo periodically articulate the vocal pieces. As Favier notes (pp. 8–9) Marchand’s music borrows from both secular and religious musical traditions: secular in its treatment of the strophes, versification, style of airs, recitatives, and instrumental passages (some in French overture style), and religious in its use of accompanied recitatives, melodic restraint, and juxtaposition of choir and soloists, borrowed from the grand motet.

3.5 The variety of instrumental and vocal forces, forms, and genres in each canticle makes for an intriguing and stimulating musical experience. The score is full of musical images that illustrate and underscore key words in the text with luscious musical sounds. Marchand’s use of the orchestra is remarkable; the accompanying instruments not only add contrast to the musical form but also provide color to intensify the vocal line. The publication of this beautiful set of works in 1999 appeared just in time to celebrate in music France’s acclaimed author, Jean Racine.

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