Edward\u00a0Higginbottom pays homage to the magnificent cathedral\u2019s important contribution to our musical history <\/p>
Like<\/span><\/strong> so many, I watched with disbelief the live-reporting in April 2019 of the fire that engulfed Notre Dame. I emailed my colleague at its choir school, the Ma\u00eetrise Notre-Dame de Paris, and of course he was devastated<\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n A few days later he wrote: \u2018More than ever, the Ma\u00eetrise is the ambassador of Notre Dame\u2019s extraordinary heritage. That is why we are going to \u201cshine\u201d in other places, in Paris, in France, and throughout the world.\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n As we come to terms with the\u00a0 tragedy of the fire and its consequences, we reflect on the centuries of music-making associated with this iconic building, a building that, with the sole exception of St Peter\u2019s Rome, is the most visited ecclesiastical site in all Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n Notre Dame has arguably a unique place in Western European music\u2019s history as the \u2018cradle of polyphony\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n This was the moment in the 12th century when Gregorian chant<\/a><\/strong> was elaborated with two or even three additional rhythmicised vocal parts, with the plainsong \u2013 transferred to the bass part \u2013 becoming the \u2018cantus firmus\u2019. This newly minted, multi-voiced style was called \u2018organum\u2019 and was something of a sea-change. <\/span><\/p>\n Conventions swept in that allowed for the notation of unambiguous note-values, essential for managing musical synchronicity: the exact vertical alignment of separate vocal lines.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n That this step was taken in late 12th-century <\/span>Paris was no coincidence. Paris was then Europe\u2019s <\/span>intellectual hub, up for all manner of technical innovation and fresh thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n If not alone in developing new polyphonic techniques, Notre Dame was the place that has left us the richest musical legacy of the 12th and early 13th centuries, in the form of the organa of the Magnus Liber<\/i> (Great Book) of magister L\u00e9onin (1150s \u2013 c1201), further elaborated by magister P\u00e9rotin (died c1238). <\/span><\/p>\n The innovations went step by step with the building of the cathedral, although when L\u00e9onin died at the beginning of the 13th century the building was less than half complete. It wasn\u2019t until 1260 that it resembled its current form. In the popular imagination, the music of the Magnus Liber<\/i> is associated with a huge gothic interior. <\/span><\/p>\n In actual fact it was heard, to begin with, in a building that had yet to include the crossing and transepts, and where canvas still flapped against wooden scaffolding. Be that as it may, the achievement of these two masters was to set Western European music on the most decisive new path in 1,000 years. Notre Dame can feel justly proud to have been the epicentre of this extraordinary development in musical style.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Organum was not the only 12th-century musical innovation associated with Notre Dame. Congaudeant catholici <\/i>by Albert of Paris (1146-1177), cantor of the cathedral, is the earliest known polyphonic work in the conductus<\/i> style, a multi-voiced idiom independent of a pre-existent cantus firmus. <\/span><\/p>\n With the 13th century came the \u2018motet<\/a><\/strong>\u2019, cultivated by figures such as Philippe le Chancelier (Notre Dame\u2019s chancellor from 1217 to 1236) and Guillaume d\u2019Auvergne (canon from 1223, and a future Bishop of Paris). Their compositions (such as Philippe\u2019s Mundus a munditia<\/i> and Guillaume\u2019s In veritate comperi<\/i>), though not routinely sung in Notre Dame\u2019s liturgy, belonged to the rich cultural, artistic and spiritual life supported by the cathedral.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n But could the brilliant minds and artists of Notre Dame maintain this giddy pace of innovation and creativity? As the Middle Ages gave way to the Renaissance,<\/a><\/strong> the flame passed to Italy and Flanders, where the schools of polyphonic writing leading to the motets and masses of the masters of the late Renaissance flourished. England was no less a place of extraordinary innovation in the 15th century, but not part of the same grand project. <\/span><\/p>\n Notre Dame regained its musical prestige with the appointment in 1498 of Antoine Brumel as ma\u00eetre de chapelle<\/i>. In the middle of the 16th century Jacques H\u00e9rissant gilded the reputation of the choir school with an increase in chorister numbers (from eight to 12) and in their quality, tempting the Duc de Guise to make off with one of the best of them for his own chapel.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n It was, however, the grand si\u00e8cle<\/i> (during the reigns of Louis XIII and XIV, 1610-1715) that witnessed a new and exciting stage in the cathedral\u2019s musical history. From 1625, choir directors were chosen following a rigorous competition, resulting in the appointment of a succession of brilliant composers (we must always remember that this was the primary role of a ma\u00eetre de chapelle<\/i>), beginning with Henri Fr\u00e9mart, and including Jean Veillot, Pierre Robert and Andr\u00e9 Campra and, further into the reign of Louis XVI, Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Lalouette and Fran\u00e7ois Leseur.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> These composers developed the choral idioms of the time, introducing double-choir textures and transforming the stile antico<\/i> (the old polyphonic style) into a burgeoning Baroque<\/a><\/strong> with instrumental participation. Campra was the first to introduce strings into the music of Notre Dame. Some of these composers enriched their careers with appointments to the Chapelle Royale, or involvement in the activities of the Acad\u00e9mie Royale de Musique.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n All this came to an abrupt and brutal end when the revolutionaries converted the cathedral into a \u2018Temple of Reason\u2019, handing everybody, priests and musicians alike, their redundancy notices. Nor were the continued upheavals of the 19th century conducive to stable conditions for music-making.<\/span><\/p>\n Things got worse in 1905 when church and state were formally separated, leading to further impoverishments. Abb\u00e9 Alphonse Renault, ma\u00eetre de chapelle<\/i> from 1905 to 1925, kept a flickering flame going, spending many of his nights personally copying out the choir\u2019s music to save on costs.<\/span><\/p>\n Later in the century, the dedicated work of P\u00e8re Jehan Revert, ma\u00eetre de chapelle<\/i> between 1959 and 1991, ensured continuity of practice. However, the corner was only really turned in 1991 with the foundation of the Association Musique Sacr\u00e9e \u00e0 Notre-Dame de Paris. Following this initiative, under the guidance of Cardinal Jean-Marie <\/span>Lustiger, the cathedral now boasts a revived choir <\/span>school, various professional choral ensembles <\/span>and a clearly defined and respected role for music <\/span>in the liturgy. Once again, musico-liturgical practice in Notre Dame holds its head high.<\/span><\/p>\n If, for its choral music, the last 200 years of the Cathedral\u2019s history have been relatively unremarkable, this is not the case for the organ<\/a><\/strong>. From the 14th century to our own day there has <\/span>been a \u2018grand orgue\u2019 in the building and someone <\/span>to play it. <\/span><\/p>\n The roll call of its titulaires <\/i>(organists) may be counted the envy of the world, not least <\/span>during the years of the late 19th century onwards. <\/span>While the cathedral\u2019s choral activity descended into parochialism, the fingers of Louis Vierne (titulaire<\/i> from 1900-37) and Marcel Dupr\u00e9 (1916-20) improvised some of the most magnificent music ever heard in a <\/span>church. <\/span><\/p>\n More recently Pierre Cochereau (titulaire<\/i> <\/span>from 1955 to 1984) and Olivier Latry, who was appointed in 1985 in succession to Cochereau, have maintained the stellar reputation of Notre Dame organists. They are part of a tradition of improvisers stretching back 600 years, including Pierre Chabanceau de La Barre (titulaire<\/i> 1580-1600), Charles Racquet (titulaire<\/i> 1618-59), Louis-Claude Daquin (titulaire<\/i> 1755-72) and Claude-B\u00e9nigne Balbastre (titulaire<\/i> <\/span>1760-93). <\/span><\/p>\n They were well served by magnificent <\/span>instruments, latterly built by Fran\u00e7ois Thierry (1733), Fran\u00e7ois-Henri Clicquot (1783), and Aristide Cavaill\u00e9-Coll, with later modifications as and when restorations have taken place. Aristide\u2019s \u2018symphonic\u2019 instrument, tonally hand-in-glove with Vierne\u2019s organ symphonies, was inaugurated by C\u00e9sar Franck,<\/a> Camille Saint-Sa\u00ebns<\/a><\/strong>, Charles-Marie Widor and Alexandre Guilmant on 6 March 1868. <\/span>Oh, to have been there! <\/span><\/p>\n The instrument just saved from total destruction is, at heart, still the Cavaill\u00e9-Coll of 1868, and it embodies both the majesty and the mystery of the cathedral\u2019s interior. From my own experience, nothing could equal it in the hands of Pierre Cochereau, improvising the Offertoire, the Communion or the Sortie at High Mass \u2013 an overwhelming combination of the visceral and the transcendental.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n This is the essence of what Notre Dame is now re-discovering in its choral music programme: the transforming power of liturgical music. The Ma\u00eetrise\u2019s fledgling activities have been rudely interrupted by fire. But music at Notre-Dame de Paris will doubtless shine anew. <\/span><\/p>\n We can have nothing but admiration for those whose task it is to maintain its musical traditions, while they wait for architects, engineers and craftsmen to return the cathedral to its former glory, a rightful home for music-making of the highest order. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> <\/body><\/html>\n Edward\u00a0Higginbottom pays homage to the magnificent cathedral\u2019s important contribution to our musical history <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"7"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Edward\u00a0Higginbottom pays homage to the magnificent cathedral\u2019s important contribution to our musical history","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/24985"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The history of Notre Dame and its role in French music<\/h2>\n
What is polyphony?<\/span><\/h3>\n
Notre Dame during the 12th and 13th centuries<\/span><\/h3>\n
The Renaissance<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Notre Dame during the 17th century<\/h3>\n
\n
What happened to Notre Dame during the French Revolution?<\/h3>\n
Notre Dame organ<\/h2>\n
\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"