A newly discovered source of vocal chamber music by Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre and René Drouard de Bousset
Adrian Rose is a freelance teacher and musicologist, organist and treble viol player. He is the owner of a small library of antiquarian music and books, which includes rare items by Bernier Cordelet, Campra, Lagarde, Lefebure, Morin, Rameau, Rebel/Francoeur and Titon du Tillet, which can be read by appointment
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Abstract |
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This article introduces a newly discovered manuscript dated 1760 (which is the property of the author) of the sacred cantatas of Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre and René Drouard de Bousset, which had been published earlier in the 18th century. As the only known secondary source of La Guerre’s cantatas, the variant readings between the printed and manuscript versions are discussed, and the fine, but little-known, cantatas of De Bousset are surveyed. The late copy date is remarkable, for it is generally considered that the French sacred cantata repertory fell out of favour by c.1745–50 at the latest. The author suggests that the writings of Titon du Tillet (including Le Parnasse François (Paris, 1732)), Daquin and others contributed to an ongoing interest, amongst select circles, in the repertory of the ‘ancien musique’ well into the 1760s. Musical examples are included, both in facsimile and modern transcriptions, as well as a Critical Commentary giving the most significant differences between the manuscript and printed versions of La Guerre’s cantatas. The illustrations include photographs of the manuscript itself, and various engraved portraits from Titon du Tillet’s Parnasse François, including that of La Guerre.
Key Words: Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre • René Drouard de Bousset • French sacred cantata • Titon du Tillet • Le Parnasse François • manuscript study