The Cambridge Companion to French Music

This accessible Companion provides a wide-ranging and comprehensive introduction to French music from the early middle ages to the present.

Simon Trezise (Edited by)

9780521701761, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 19 February 2015

440 pages, 18 b/w illus. 20 music examples
24.6 x 17.5 x 1.9 cm, 0.86 kg

'Few devotees of French music and culture will not find a treasure-trove of enlightening information in this brilliantly cast multi-author book … This excellent book is much more than a springboard and will provide an invaluable key for any Francophile wanting to deepen their knowledge of issues, periods and repertoire with which they are not so familiar: questions addressed by the contributors to this learned and expert volume.' Richard Langham Smith, H-France

France has a long and rich music history that has had a far-reaching impact upon music and cultures around the world. This accessible Companion provides a comprehensive introduction to the music of France. With chapters on a range of music genres, internationally renowned authors survey music-making from the early middle ages to the present day. The first part provides a complete chronological history structured around key historical events. The second part considers opera and ballet and their institutions and works, and the third part explores traditional and popular music. In the final part, contributors analyse five themes and topics, including the early church and its institutions, manuscript sources, the musical aesthetics of the Siècle des Lumières, and music at the court during the ancien régime. Illustrated with photographs and music examples, this book will be essential reading for both students and music lovers.

Foreword Simon Trezise
Part I. Chronological History of French Music from the Early Middle Ages to the Present: 1. From abbey to cathedral and court: music under the Merovingian, Carolingian, and Capetian kings in France, through Louis IX Alice V. Clark
2. Cathedral and court: music under the late Capetian and Valois kings in France, to Louis XI Lawrence Earp
3. The Renaissance Fabrice Fitch
4. Music under Louis XIII and XIV (1610–1715) Peter Bennett and Georgia J. Cowart
5. Music from the Regency to the Revolution (1715–89) Debra Nagy
6. The Revolution and Romanticism to 1848 Michael McClellan and Simon Trezise
7. Renaissance and change: 1848 to 1914 Simon Trezise
8. La guerre et la paix: 1914–45 Andy Fry
9. Cultural and generational querelles in the musical domain: music in France from the Second World War Jonathan Goldman
Part II. Opera: 10. Opera and ballet to the death of Gluck Jacqueline Waeber
11. Opera and ballet after the Revolution Steven Huebner
Part III. Other Musics: 12. Traditional music and its ethnomusicological study in France Luc Charles-Dominique
13. Popular music David Loosely
Part IV. Themes and Topics: 14. Manuscript sources and calligraphy John Haines
15. Church and state in early medieval France Andrew Tomasello
16. Music and the court of the ancien régime Jeanice Brooks
17. Musical aesthetics of the Siècle des Lumières Georgia J. Cowart
18. Paris and the regions from the Revolution to World War I Katharine Ellis.

Subject Areas: Music: styles & genres [AVG], Theory of music & musicology [AVA]