The Past and Present Society
Learned and General Musical Taste in Eighteenth-Century France
Author(s): William Weber
Source: Past & Present, No. 89 (Nov., 1980), pp. 58-85
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society
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LEARNED AND GENERAL MUSICAL TASTE
IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
FRANCE*
THE HISTORY OF CONNOISSEURS IS THE HISTORY OF HOW SOCIETIES
have valuedlearningin lettersand thearts.The connoisseur,
holding
insomearea ofculture,mighthavebeena writer,
unusualknowledge
a
forartistic
scholar,a patron,an amateur,or simplysomeonerespected
Membersoftheuppersocialordershavelonghad a sense,
judgement.
a disposition
as ingrainedas theirtablemanners,aboutwhatconnoisseursor peoplein generalunderstood
aboutthearts,and howimportant learningmightseem.Let us call "general"tastethe assumption
thatcertainbooks,paintings,
or worksofmusicdidnotrequirespecial
be
to
"learned" is accordinglythe opposite.
understood;
knowledge
Historiansneed not flinchat talkingabout the generalpublicsince,
eventhoughits size and composition
maybe onlyroughlydeterminclearwhatwas regardedeitheras
able,societieshavemadeabundantly
esotericor accessible.On theone handtheplaysofShakespearewere
consideredpartofgeneraltastein theirtime,as werethesymphonies
ofHaydnand theoperasofHandel.On theotherhandworksbasedon
ancientmodels(forexample,thepoemsofMilton)oractuallyintended
forstudy(such as the fuguesof J. S. Bach) werethoughtto be approachableonlythrougha learnedtaste.Althoughsomewritingsof
greatantiquitywereverywidelyknown,age tendedto demandlearning. One effectof this,of course,was thatthepassageof timeoften
changedthestatusof a workfrom"general"to "learned".
Powerwas presentin bothmannersof taste.Knowledgeis power;
popularityis power.The balance struckbetweenthem,a complex,
has beenone ofthe
socialand intellectual
oftencontradictory,
system,
most fundamentalaspects of any culture.These assumptions,by
governingwhathas gone on in thelifeof thearts,have contributed
ofeach society,helpingdefinetheidiosyncratic
muchto thesensibility
waysby whichpeoplehave shapedtheirtastesand gone about their
culturalbusiness.
separatefrom
Learninghas thus had its own social distinctions,
thoseofsocialclasses.Perspectives
ofa masssocietyhaveobscuredthis
question.Becausetheterm"popularculture"has oftenbeenusedamin varicultureand popularity
biguously- bothto meanlower-class
* This
paper was writtenwith the supportof the National Endowmentforthe
Humanities,duringa Fellowshipin Residence at the Universityof Virginia,and
completedwithaid frommy university.I am gratefulforcommentson an earlier
versionpresentedto a seminaron eighteenth-century
opera organizedby Professor
Milos Velimirovic,and to historydepartment
seminarsat the University
of Virginia
and at theJohnsHopkinsUniversity.
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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE
59
ous social classes- historianshave forgotten
thattheupperorders
have alwayshad theirown generalculture.Few eighteenth-century
were learnedin all the arts; in trusting
gentlemenor gentlewomen
in areasofrelativeignorance,
themselves
tothebroadtheysubscribed
est culturalproclivities
of theirpeers.Undeniablywealthand social
togettheculturalexposureessentialtogeneral
positionwerenecessary
taste,or the knowledgeneededforlearnedtaste,and patronagerebequiredparticularly
greateconomicresources.But thedistinction
tweenthetwokindsoftaste,as betweenconnoisseurs
and thepublic,
has been quite independentof bourgeois,aristocratic,
or any other
class identities.1
It meantsomethingverydifferent
to be a connoisseurof music
ratherthanoflettersor paintingin eighteenth-century
France.Musical aficionadosdidnothave as powerfula learnedor "high"tradition
as did theircolleaguesin the otherarts.The reasonswhythiswas
so sprangfromassumptionsthat weretakenforgranted,rarelyexpressed,and probablyoftennot understood.The problemwas Euroexamineit firstfrom
pean in scope,of course,and we will therefore
thatperspective
beforelookingat itscharacterinFrance.2We willlook
1 Methodologicalmodelsforthis studyincludeRobertDarnton,"The High Enand the Low-Lifeof Literaturein Pre-Revolutionary
lightenment
France",Past and
Present,no. 51 (May 197I), pp. 81- I 5; RobertDarnton,"Reading,Writingand PubFrance: A Case Studyin theSociologyofLiterature",
lishingin Eighteenth-Century
in FelixGilbertand StephenR. Graubard(eds.),HistoricalStudiesToday (NewYork,
1971), pp. 238-80; GenevieveBollemeet al., Livre etsocietedans la Francedu XVIIII
siecle,2 vols. (Paris, 1965-70); FrancisHaskell,Patronsand Painters:A Studyin the
Relations betweenItalian Art and Society in the Age of the Baroque (New York,
1963); Henri Lagrave, Le thdetreet le public c Paris de I7I5 d I750 (Paris, 1972);
JohnLough, Paris TheatreAudiencesin theSeventeenthand EighteenthCenturies
(London, 1957); HarrisonWhiteand CynthiaWhite,Canvases and Careers:InstitutionalChange in theFrenchPaintingWorld(New York, 1965).
2 DiscussionofFrenchmusicin theseventeenth
and eighteenth
centurieshas had a
mostimportantly
in theworksofJamesR. Anthony,
Norbert
strongsocialcomponent,
to the journalRecherchessur la
Dufourcq,RobertM. Isherwood,and contributors
musiquefrancaiseclassiqueau XVIIIe siecle. Major studiesincludeJ. R. Anthony's
sociallyperceptiveFrench Baroque Music fromBeaujoyeulx to Rameau, 2nd edn.
(New York, 1978); N. Dufourcq,Notes et references
pour servira une histoirede
Michel-RichardDelalande (Paris, 1957); N. Dufourcq,La musiqued la courde Louis
XIV et de Louis XV d'apres les memoiresde Sourcheset Luynes(Paris, 1970); Marcelle Benoit,Versailleset les musiciensdu roi, I66I-I733 (Paris, 1971); R. M. Isherwood,Music inServiceoftheKing: France in theSeventeenthCentury(Ithaca,N.Y.,
1973); Michel Brenet[pseud.Marie Bobillier],Les concertsen France sous l'ancien
regime(Paris, 1900); TheodoreLajarte,Bibliothequemusicaledu thdetrede l'opera:
catalogue historique,chronologique,anecdotique,2 vols. (Paris, 1878); Barry S.
dans la secondemoitiedu XVIII esiecle,3 vols.(Paris,
Brook,La symphoniefrancaise
1962); L. La Laurencie,Le gotn-musicalen France (Paris, 1905); Louis Striffling,
Esquisse d'une histoiredu gozt musicalen France au XVIIIe siecle (Paris, 1912);
GeorgesSnyders,Le gozt musicalen France auxXVlle et XVIIIe siecles(Paris, 1968).
The archivalsourceson thestatemusicalinstitutions
are dividedbetweentheArchives
nationales(hereafter
A.N.) and theBibliothequede l'Opera; theholdingsoftheformer
are cataloguedin B. Labat-Poussin,Archivesdu thdetrenationalde l'opera (Paris,
1977).
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6o
PAST AND PRESENT
NUMBER 89
into the period between about 1700 and the I770S, since during the
last quarterof thecenturytheold social assumptions
beganto break
down. In 1770 JohnHawkins,England'sfirstclaimto a musichistorian,complainedthat:
Nothingin musicis estimablethatis notnew.No musictolerable,whichhas been
heardbefore.In answerto whichit maybe said,thatthiskindofreasoningis never
forno man was everyetso weak as to
applied to otherintellectualgratifications;
objectto theworksofVirgilor Raphael,thattheone wroteseventeenhundred,or
thattheotherpainted250 yearsago.3
A Parisianmagazinecorrespondent
made thesamepointthreeyears
later,asking:"Whyis musicmoresubjectthantheotherartsto the
musicandpaintpowerofmode,and whyaretheprejudicesregarding
thatpeoplealwaysprefertheoldestpaintingbut the
ing so different
newestmusic?".4Whyindeed,we mustask,in our era ofrigidlyhistoricistmusic-making?
The answerto theirqueries,put in itssimplestterms,was thatby
traditionmusichad beenseenas themostvulgarofthearts- in both
the temporaland the moralsense of the word.Music could not be
learnedbecauseultimately
ithad no history.
It had no history
because,
save fora fewsmallfragments,
no bodyof musicalscoreshad come
downfromancientGreeceor Rome,and scholarsdidnotuncovernew
onesin theeighteenth
centuryas theydidancientpaintings.Sincethe
the musicof the anRenaissance,theoristshad triedto reconstruct
cients,butthatremaineda matterofacademicguesswork,
leavingunresolvedevenso basica questionas whether
or notthemusichad more
thanone line.5Lackinga corpusofclassicalworks,musicallifehad no
historicalchainofworksdoneinimitatio;lackinga Virgil,musiccould
haveno Petrarch,and no composersrevereddownthroughtheagesas
wereDante and Michelangelo.It was notconventional
to honourthe
musicof thepast,butto spurnit.6
Musictherefore
remainedmarginaltohigherlearning.Bytradition,
A história da música
3 JohnHawkins,An Account of the Institution
and Progressof theAcademyof
não contava Ancient
com
um
Music (London, I770), p. 13.
cânone, como 4Journal
a
de musiquepar une societedes amateurs,i (1773), no. 6, p. IO.
5 See Francoisde Chateauneuf,Dialogue surla musiquedes anciens(Paris, 1709),
literatura e a pintura.
2ndedn.,4 vols.
PP. 34-9,94-5; JacquesBonnet,Histoirede la musiqueetde ses effets,
(Amsterdam,I715-25), i, p. 53; [Jean-JacquesRousseau], "Musique", in Encyclopedie ou dictionnaireraisonnedes sciences,des arts et des metiers,17 vols. (Paris,
1751-65),x, pp. 899-902; [Josephde La Porte(ed.)], Observationssur la litterature
moderne,2 vols. (Paris, 1749-50), i, p. 224; [P.-F. Guyot-Desfontaines
(ed.)], Observationsur les ecritsmodernes,34 vols.(Paris, 1735-43),ii, pp. 238-9. Identification
of
authorsof the articlesin theEncyclopedieis accordingto A. R. Oliver,The Encyclopedistsas CriticsofMusic (New York, I947), appendixA, pp. I 7 -88.
6 One of the time-honoured
slursagainstthe musicof the past is thatof Joannes
Tinctorisin 477, discountinganyworkoverfortyyearsold as a worthwhile
objectof
trans.AlbertSeay as TheArtof
study:JoannesTinctoris,Liberde artecontrapuncti,
Counterpoint(Amer.Inst.Musicology,MusicologicalStudiesand Documents,no. 5,
Rome, 196I), p. 14.
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Música era uma arte
marginalizada
MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE
norperformance
neithercomposition
had anypartinformalacademic
couldnotcontemplate
study,sincethewell-born
doingthemas a trade.
itwas there
Thoughmusichad beenpartofthemedievalquadrivium,
studiedonlyas a narrowscientific
subject,mathematicaltheoriesof
acoustics,and not music itself.Such studylost groundduringthe
seventeenth
and eighteenth
oftheUnicenturies;theratiostudiorum
of
Paris
music
to
a
few
minor
and
versity
chapters, theevolurelegated
tionofscientific
theorymadeideasabouttheharmoniesofthespheres
out of date.7Discussionof thesematterspassedinstead
increasingly
wheretheyprovideda handysubstitute
intothefieldofaesthetics,
for
ancientmusic,a way of relatingmusicto theclassicaltradition.Esto learningdevotedthemselves
sayistson musicwithanypretensions
to ancientor medievaltheories;theirhistoryof musicconcernedthe
and scientific
traditions
butrarelyanydiscussionofcomphilosophical
posers,styles,or musicitself.8
Ofcourse,classicalnomenclature
pervadedmusicallife.Mostopera
librettos
derivedfromthegeneralknowledgeofGreekor Romanhistoryormythology;
manyhalls,societiesoroccasionshad ancienttitles;
and aspectsof musicalcompositionweresometimesseen in termsof
Ciceronianrhetoric.9
One coulddo littleelsein thatneo-classicalage.
But thecoreoftheclassicaltradition,
indeeditsgreateststrength,
lay
in textualanalysisand criticalcommentary,
in thescrutiny
ofpresent
practicewithgreatworksfromantiquity;withoutthat,classicalallusioncouldbe littlemorethanlearnedname-dropping.
Music,lackinga
textualcorpusfromantiquity,
classicaltradionlyhad a second-hand
tion.For thatreasonmusiccouldenterhigherlearningonlyuponthe
ofotherfields;it was theleastoftheliberalarts.
sufferance
Musical taste accordinglyremainedfixedupon the present.The
musicalworldforwhichG. F. Handel and Jean-Philippe
Rameau
wrotewas a cultureofthe"now", wherestylistic
traditions
persisted,
in thechangingpresent.Duringthesevenimplicitand unexamined,
teenthand eighteenth
centuriesthegreatmajority
ofworksperformed
in concerthallsand opera-houses,
thoughsomewhatlessin cathedrals,
werebylivingcomposers.Whenmusicbyan eighteenth-century
composersurvivedhisorherdeath- as didoperasbyJean-Baptiste
Lully
7 Marie Naudin,Evolutionparallelede la poesie et de la musiqueen France (Paris,
1968), pp. 126-48.
8 The leading"history"writtenat thattime- Bonnet'sHistoirede la musiqueet
de ses effets-gives only the mostcursoryand unsympathetic
treatmentto music
beforethetimeof Jean-Baptiste
Lully: Bonnet,op. cit.,i, pp. 3, 208-1 2, 224-35.
9 Some musicologists
see powerfulinfluencefromtherhetoricaltraditionupon musical composition.See GregoryG. Butler,"Fugue and Rhetoric",Jl. Music Theory,
xxi (1977), pp. 49-1I; WarrenKirkendale,"CiceroniansversusAristotelians
on the
Ricercaras Exordium,fromBembo to Bach", Jl. Amer. MusicologicalSoc., xxxii
(1979), pp. 1-44.But othermusicologists
arguethatclassicalinfluencewas limitedto
esotericor academicforms,thatitdid notfiguresignificantly
in thecompositional
process,or thatit was weak in musicof the eighteenth
century.
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62
PAST AND PRESENT
Importância na vida
NUMBER 89
cotidiana
to an exceptionalextent- itwasextensively
and otherFrenchmen
rewrittenand actedas a fixture
ofan institution
ratherthanas a model
elevatedabovecriticismand studiedin theschools.10
Music did notholdpowerin higherlearning,moreover,
becauseit
wieldedextraordinary
powerin everydaylife.Music loomedlargein
theritesand pleasuresof thecourt,thetavernand thehome;people
danced,drankand courtedto it, and in thelate seventeenth
century
operas and concertssimplyput thesefunctionson a granderscale.
Musicseemedtooearthytobe a learnedart.AsHawkinsremarked,
his
historyofmusicwas intended"to reprobatethevulgarnotionthatits
Even ifplaysalso
[music's]ultimateend is merelyto excitemirth".11
had a bawdytradition,
muchlessspectacle- especially
theyoffered
lessdance- thanoperaanddid notplayas largea roleinthehomeas
instrumental
music.
Because musicwas a generalsocial pleasurefortheupperorders,
authorityoverits tasteswas ruledby thepreceptof privilegewhich
was essential to the ancien regime.12 The beau monde was beholden to
none in its musicaltastes;no authoritystood higher.That did not
suchas musiciansor journalists
simplymeanthatlesserprofessionals
itmeantthat
couldnottellpeoplewhatto listento; moreimportantly
in theserarifiedsocial milieuxcould not presumeupon
connoisseurs
theirlearningand dictatetastes.If such conceitwas possiblein the
morelearnedartsand letters,wherelearnedauthoritywas specified
in theworldofconcertsand theoperait ranup
and institutionalized,
did not acknowledgea
against the assumptionthat entertainment
Musicwas tooessentialto thedailylives
authority.
higherintellectual
of theupperclassesforthatto happen.An anthropomorphic
idea of
the public- theidea of a unitary,self-governing
audience- grew
O gosto
"
10The daily repertoireof the Paris opera has been largelyreconstructed
in musical
the
elevado"
no
antigo
in
de
the
Biblioa
des
entrees
l'Academie
journalieres
"Journal
Royale Musique"
regime
era ditado pelas
in ConoftheConcertSpirituelare reconstituted
thequede l'Opera; theprogrammes
of
third
stantPierre,Histoiredu ConcertSpirituel(Paris, I975). Duringthemiddle
classes
sociais
mais
at theoperainaltas
someseasons
theeighteenth
centuryoverhalfofthedailyperformances
after
wereof worksby dead composers,but thisantiquerepertoirewas sweptaway
Louis XVI ascendedthethronein 1774. For thecourtchapel,see J. E. Morby,"BioParis and
graphyof a GrandMotet:The JeanGillesRequiemin Eighteenth-Century
Versailles",Proc. WesternSoc. for FrenchHist., ii (1975), pp. 78-82; J. E. Morby,
in theEighteenthCentury",Proc. Western
Soc. for
"The FrenchClassical Repertory
FrenchHist., v (1978), pp. 155-60.
11JohnHawkins,A GeneralHistoryof theScience and PracticeofMusic, ed. C.
Cudworth,2 vols. (New York, i963), p. xix. For a suggestivestudyof the place of
music in learningand morals,see H. G. Koenigsberger,"Music and Religionin
Modern European History",in The Diversityof History:Essays in Honour of Sir
ed. J. H. Elliottand H. G. Koenigsberger
HerbertButterfield,
(Ithaca, N.Y., 1970),
pp. 35-78.
12 For a culturalportraitofprivilege- in bothitssocial and bureaucraticaspects
and the Low-Lifeof Literaturein Presee Darnton,"The High Enlightenment
A Publishing
RevolutionaryFrance"; R. Darnton,The Businessof Enlightenment:
Historyof theEncyclopedie,i775-i8oo (Cambridge,Mass., I979).
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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE
63
fromtheassumption
thatall privileged
personswerebynaturepartof
thatbodyand weretheirownmusicaljudges.
Still, musichad its own kind of learning.Since the middleages
in stricter
sacredmusichad amountedto an esoterictradition:written
and moreconservative
stylesthan secularmusic,it acted in a pedacenturythe
gogicalas wellas a liturgicalrole.Duringtheseventeenth
as the
of
Giovanni
Palestrina
was
codified
sacred-music
style
pure
reference
pointforacademicpolyphonicwritingand was called the
stile antico,even thoughthe old musicitselfwas rarelysung. Here
tradition.13As suchthe
alonedidmusicpossessa learnedandhistorical
traditionofpolyphonicmusicremainedapartfromgeneraltaste,for
centuryitdidnotfollowcloselyin theevolution
duringtheeighteenth
ofmusicstylesand was generally
thoughtaccessible- someevensaid
attractive- onlyto thosewithadvancedmusicaltraining.The increasinglysecular,indeedoperatic,styleofmuchreligiousmusicisoWhilefugalwritingcontinuedas the
evenfurther.
latedthistradition
hallmarkofthelearnedcomposer(thatofJ.S. Bach beingregardedas
themostskilfulofitskind)itdid nothavemanyamateurpractitioners
and relatedlittleif at all to classical studyof musicaltheoryand
in
aesthetics.As an Englishgentlemansaid sadlyofsacredpolyphony
pro1757: "It requiresa verypeculiargeniustomakeanyconsiderable
gressin all thebranchesofthatmostelevatedand exaltedscience".14
What,then,was the connoisseurto do? Amateursin theartworld
had no suchlimitsupon theirauthority;
theycouldcommandall the
learningin theirfieldand extendedthetoolsofhistoricalattribution
Men oflettersfaced
century.
begunbyGiorgioVasariin thesixteenth
no distinction
and held swayover
betweenamateurand professional
Europeancultureas themainguardiansoftheclassicaltradition.But
connoisseursin musiccould claim only a contemporary
authority,
whichwas bydefinition
weak,andhad tomakedo witha
intellectually
classicaltradition.Bound to thepresent,theyhad to retrumped-up
of generaltaste.
spectthejudgement
did exercisea learnedauthorityoftheir
Nevertheless
connoisseurs
lifeforitsaficioown,sincemusicallifewas too powerfulin everyday
nados not to wieldsomeinfluence.As theamateurswiththegreatest
exposureto musical events,theyinteractedwiththe public in the
and
changingofitstastes;as theearliestkindsof agents,impresarios
musiccritics,theystoodas respected,thoughneverincontrovertible,
People did seemto listento what
judgesof musicand performance.
oftheage regarding
musical
theysaid. We couldsumup thementality
13 Warren Kirkendale,
Fuge und Fugato in der Kammermusik des Rokoko unter
der Klassiker (Tutzing, 1966); Immogene Horsely, Fugue: History and Practice (New
York, 1966); Christoph Wolff,Der stile antico in der Musik Johann Sebastien Bachs
(Wiesbaden,1968).
14 Gentleman's
Mag., xxvii (1757), p. 544.
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No distinction between
amateurs and learned
64
PAST AND PRESENT
NUMBER 89
learningin a maxim:one did not have to knowanythingspecialto
understandmusic,but it was niceifone did.
All ofwhichwas to changeaftertheendoftheeighteenth
century.
Withtheriseofa "classical"repertoire
fromthe i8 ios on,chiefly
the
musicof Haydn,Mozartand Beethoven,came an epochalchangein
the historyof musicallife,a fundamental
in the astransformation
sumptionsof tastewhichhas as yetbeenlittlestudied.Hawkinswas
a prophet.By the middleof the nineteenth
centurythe symphonic
was seenas themostseriousof artisticforms,poetslooked
repertoire
to musicforaestheticmodels,and connoisseurshad emergedas lay
we are
connoisseurs
priestsof thenew musicaldeities.1 In studying
ofthischange.We willfirstexaminehowthe
studyingtheprehistory
wordconnaisseurwas usedand whatthatmeantas regardsvaluesfor
musicaltaste.How muchdidthepublicrespectsucha person?We will
thenlook intothewaysbywhichconnoisseurs
relatedto thecustoms
in musicallife.Did theystandapartfromgeneraltaste
and traditions
as a "high" tradition?
betweenthe
Finallywe willdiscussdifferences
- theaesthetician,
thegeneralwriterand
majortypesofconnoisseurs
the patron.What kindsof knowledgeand authority
did theyclaim,
and howdid each one relateto generaltaste?
The wordconnaisseurhad a specialmeaningin themusicallifeof
France.Today we speakoftheconnoisseurin the
eighteenth-century
titleforindividualswho are knownto
singularas a complimentary
excelin a particularfield;thewordcarriesan unquestionedauthority
In eighteenth-century
musiand has consistently
positiveimplications.
cal commentary,
however,it was almostalwaysusedin theplural,designatingthoseknowledgeableabout musicas a group.Though in
to them,in othersitcarriedpeauthority
manycontextsit attributed
in doubt.
and leftthevalidityoftheirauthority
jorativeconnotations
ornegatively,
as a
The wordactedas a verbalweapon,eitherpositively
or as a slur;through
ita greatdeal ofgame-playing
sourceofauthority
wenton in thepressand, one presumes,in theparloursof Paris. For
oftheAcademieFrancaisedegeneralusage,ofcourse,thedictionary
aboutsomething"
finedthewordas "someonewho is knowledgeable
of
and includedexamplesaboutindividuals("He is a goodconnoisseur
horses").16But whilethesingularmayhave beenheardin conversainmusicalmattersmust
tion,theword'sfrequently
negativeovertones
have limitedsuchusage.
was difoftheconnoisseur
Whether
positiveor negative,perception
ferentfromthatof boththescholarand themusician.As the fields
15 WilliamWeber,"Mass Cultureand theReshapingof European Musical Taste,
1770-1870",Internat.Rev. Aestheticsand SociologyofMusic, viii (1977), pp. 7-21;
WilliamWeber,Music and theMiddle Class: The Social Structureof ConcertLifein
London,Paris and Vienna,1830-48(London, I975).
16 Dictionnairede l'Academie
Francaise,4thedn., 2 vols. (Paris, 1762), i, p. 370.
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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE
65
- horses,diamondsand paintings- suggest,
citedin thedictionary
theconnoisseurwas generallyseen to have a moreworldlyrolethan
the scholar,even thoughsome had such interests.Nor could a connoisseurbe confusedwitha professionalmusician:manyplayersat
thecourthad limitedverballiteracy,and evenwell-known
composers
of classical education.17 As one amateurput
had only a smattering
our mastersfailto
it: "whenwe learnto singor play an instrument,
but ratherchargeus withpettyobservateach us generalprinciples,
in musicallife
tions,withconfusedor obscurerules".'8Nevertheless
thewordsavant(learnedman)was usedin a specialsense:as a nounto
or as an adjectiveto
meana musicianwithadvancedtechnicaltraining
say thata piece was eithercarefullywrittenor dull. Such use of the
word occurredin a commentmade earlyin the centurythat "our
skilledmastershave foundthesecretof how knowledgeably
(savamment)to unitethe naturaltasteof theFrenchwiththebrilliantand
learned(savant)styleoftheItaliansin cantatas".19Thusconnoisseurs
theone
stoodbetweenthepublicand themusicalprofession,
providing
theknowledgeof theother.Neverwithassistancein understanding
consideredsavant,
was also sometimes
thelessthetasteofconnoisseurs
sincesomehad technicalmusicaltraining.
toles
bestin references
Wecan seethepositivesideoftheirauthority
intheMercuredeFrance,themonthly
connaisseurs
journalwhichwas
in effectParis'smainnewspaperand had themostregularand extenofanyperiodical.Strictly
sivemusicalcommentary
speaking,onecansincein manycases the anonynotcall thiswritingmusiccriticism,
mouscolumnon spectacles,a reporton recenteventsat theatresand
Inconcerts,did not openlyevaluatethe musicor the performance.
steadwritersoftenspokeof theimpressions
supposedlyexpressedby
In a reporton an Italianaria in 175
lepublicand byles connaisseurs.
and
one hearsthat"thisaria was greatlyappreciatedbyconnoisseurs,
seemedtomakea veryagreeableimpression
uponthepublic".20In the
froman opera-ballet
sameseasona changein theactstobe represented
(Rameau'sLes Indesgalantes)drewthecommentthatthehall'sdirectorshad "suppressedan act fromLe turcgenereuxwhichthepublic,
would have regretted
and especiallythe connoisseurs,
verymuch,if
theact fromLes sauvages,whosereputation
theyhad notsubstituted
is so justlyestablished".21
Writersoftensuggestedthespecialmusical
17 Benoit, Versailleset les musiciensdu roi, p. 80. One work by a practising
musicianwho did have a fullclassicaleducationwas theAbbeSebastiende Brossard's
Dictionnairede la musique(Paris, 1701).
18 J. L. Lecerfde la Vieville,Comparaisonde la musiqueitalienneet de la musique
ii, p. 305.
francaise,in Bonnet,Histoirede la musiqueet de ses effets,
19 Bonnet,
op. cit.,i, p. 36I. See also Mercurede France,July1777, p. 172; M. A.
Laugier,Apologiede la musiquefrancaise(Paris, 1754), p. 2 1.
20Mercurede France,May 1750, p. 85.
21 Ibid.,
Sept. 1751, p. I87. See also ibid., Apr. 1763, p. 176; June 1763, p. 196;
Apr. 1777, P. 172.
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66
PAST AND PRESENT
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A reporton theperformance
ofa welloftheconnoisseurs.
perception
knownsopranomentioned
that"thepublicwas charmed,buttheconnoisseursweresurprisedhow muchof herselfshe put intothepiece,
On otheroccasionsthejudgements
of
whichwas charmingin itself".22
theconnoisseurs,
but notof thepublic,werecited.A reportof a new
in 1727begancriticaldiscussionwith
ofLully'sProserpine
production
thewords:"hereis whattheconnoisseurs
thinkof theprologue".23
Allusionto les connaisseursthusgave writersin thepublicpressa
a maskthroughwhichtheycoulddeliveropinfeignedimpersonality,
ion withoutbeingentirelyresponsibleforit. The writerofthereport
on Proserpineremindedreadersthat:"Such are thevariousopinions
we have heardabouttheopera;we are notso boldas to add anyofour
own. Our reportsare onlyintendedto informthe publicof its own
Yet
ourownviewswouldnotalone have muchweight".24
sentiments;
as a literary
theworddidnotsimplyfunction
mask,foritappearedin a
widevarietyof contextswhereit impliedauthority.In I784, forexample,a directive
bytheAcademieRoyalede Musiqueforconsidering
newoperasorderedtrialperformances
"forthejudgementof theadministrationand the connoisseurs".25
With the words savant, connaisseur and public, eighteenth-century
Frenchmendefineda hierarchyof musical knowledge.The three
groupswerein a sensetheordersof musicallife,thesocial estatesof
levelsofexpertise.It was in thenatureofthings
peoplewithdifferent
in inverseproportionto theirmusical
thatthe ordershad authority
training.In 1752 the writerin theMercure de France reportedthat an
workbyJean-Joseph
Mondonville"was approvedbythe
instrumental
connoisseurs
and charmedall ears,theskilledas muchas theignorant
(tant les habiles que les ignorants)".26 Frenchmen accepted musical
oftheprivileged
classes,
ignoranceand knowledgealike;formembers
ignorancedid notruleout musicalbliss.
Indeed the authorityof musicalknowledgewas oftenquestioned.
carriedbythewordconnaisseurexposewith
The negativeimplications
particularclarityhowthepublichad suchprimacyin musicaltaste.In
the report on a new production of Lully's Bellerophon in I728, the
22Ibid., Jan. 1751,P. 184.
23Ibid., Feb. 1727, p. 345. See also ibid.,Jan. 1750, p. 194; Apr. 1750, P. 187; June
1751,p. 73; Sept. 1751,p. 190; Apr. 1753,P. 16.
24 Ibid., Feb.
1727, p. 348.
25Arretdu Conseil d'Etat, Maison du Roi, 13 May 1784, p. 29: A.N., ol 613. See
also Louis Bollioud de Mermet,De la corruptiondu gout dans la musiquefrancaise
(Lyons, 1746), pp. 41, 53; Titondu Tillet,Le parnassefranfais(Paris, 1755), p. 56;
knownas JourMemoirespour l'histoiredesscienceset des beaux-arts(conventionally
nal de Trevoux),Nov. 1746, p. 265 ; CharlesColle,Journalhistorique,ed. H. Bonhomme,3 vols. (Paris, i868), i, p. 391.
26Mercurede France, May 1747, p. 120. See also ibid., May 1752, p. 176; Jan.
used in a similar
1763, p. 142. The wordamateurwas often,thoughnotconsistently,
senseas connaisseur:see ibid.,Feb. 175 , p. 188.
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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE
67
browin stating
writerin theMercurede France showeda furrowed
that "some connoisseursbelievedthatNeptune,whilebeinginterrogatedbyJobate,wouldhavebestbeengivena sailors'dance... butwe
willleave to readersthelibertyof judgingwhetheror notthatwould
The wordconnaisseuroftenborethederogatory
havebeenbetter".27
prefix
pretenduor soi-disant,usuallywhenthesuperiorjudgementof
thepublicwas invoked.An anonymous
essayon theoperapublishedin
1776 laid downtheprinciplethat:
no judgeotherthanthepublicshoulddecidethemeritofa piece designedto amuse
and captivateit. This truthis indeedcrucial,since failurehas so oftencome to
worksthoughtexcellentby pretendedconnoisseurs,menof taste,or theatredirectors,and broughtdownfailureand humiliationuponthesesameauthors,pretended
menof letters,and connoisseurs.28
We shallsee moresuchcommentsas we proceed.
A writerearlyin the centuryhas providedus witha particularly
discussionofles connaisseurs.JeanLaurentLecerfde
comprehensive
la Vieville ( 674-7 1o) was a learned seigneurof Rouen. A memberof
theparlementofNormandy,he wrotetreatiseson Catullusand Alex-
ander the Great and also the Comparaison de la musique italienne et
de la musiquefrancaise ( 704-6), the principal work in support of the
Frenchstylewhichopenedthe long controversy.29
In the sixthdia-
logue of thiswork la comtesse is elaborating to le chevalier and Mile. le
M. the originsof le bon gozut:
The thingof greatestbeauty is that which is admiredequally by the public (le
I esteemfirstthatwhich
peuple) and bythelearnedor theconnoisseurs.
Accordingly
is admiredbymembersofthepublic,and regardleastofall thatwhichis admiredby
the connoisseurs.But Mademoiselle likes precise definitions.The learned are
mastersof music,musiciansbyestate,trainedbytherules.The publicis themultitude,the greaternumber,who have not been raisedto special knowledgeand are
Connoisseursare thosewho
guidedin theirjudgementsonlyby naturalsentiment.
are not entirelyof the public nor of the learned,halfthe one, halfthe other,. . .
owingas muchto therulesas to naturalsentiment.30
Lecerfwas quick to make clear whathe meantby le peuple: not the
"shop-boys,porters,waitressesand cooks,who listento songsbythe
Pont-Neufand nevergo to the opera", but rather"honnetesgens,
who frequentthe theamultitude,
people of quality,a distinguished
tres,but whodo notcarrythereany knowledgeoftherules".31
In hiscomments
weseehowprivilege
blurredthehierarchy
oflearnhad an auingwithinmusicallife.Mastermusiciansand connoisseurs
bornoftheirspecialknowledge,
buttheyservedonlyto inform
thority
27Ibid., Apr. 1728, p. 809. See also ibid.,June
1739, p. 1389.
28 Anon.,Lettresd'un amateur(Paris,
1776), p. 21.
29 Lecerf,Comparaison de la musique italienne;this work circulatedthe most
widelyas vols. ii-ivin the 1725 editionof Bonnet,Histoirede la musiqueet de ses
effets.
30 Lecerf, cit.,ii,
op.
pp. 293-4.
31 Ibid.,
pp. 295-6.
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68
PAST AND PRESENT
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and educatethegeneralpublic,withwhomtheultimateauthority
over
taste resided.In philosophicalterms,thatprinciplerestedupon the
naturel- thestarting-point
idea of le sentiment
of aestheticsin the
seventeenth
and eighteenth
centuries- and amountedto a universalisticconceptionoftastewithintheupperorders.Knowledgeserved
to clarify,to elaborate,tastebornof la nature;it did notbringindeHow farthissensibility
stands
pendent,farlesshigher,understanding.
fromourown!In theeyesofLecerfgeneraltastedidnotmeana lowest
commondenominator,
as twentieth-century
mindswouldbe quickto
oftheprivileged
phraseit,butrathertheconsidered
public
judgement
aided bythelearnedin itsmidst.
The controversy
overItalianmusicillustrates
howconnoisseurs
related to the public,and indeedto each other.As the popularityof
Italian musicsweptacrossEurope betweenthe I66os and 1740s,the
Frenchcourtenforceda virtualblockadeagainstoperaswrittenoutside thecountryand discouragedthe-influxof Italiancomposersand
Because Frenchmen
heardso littleItalianmusicitwas reperformers.
gardedbymanyas la musiquesavanteand thusas foreignto general
taste.AbbeFrancoisRaguenet,whobegantheliterary
disputein 1704
witha defenceofItalianmusic,admittedthat"theItalianrecitative
is
a pieceofcomposition
hardlyeverto be comprehended
bystrangers"
and wonderedat "how muchart and knowledgeis necessaryforthe
composing,playing,and singingof it".32The fewpeoplewho heard
as a
muchofittendedtobe connoisseurs
whoflaunted
theirknowledge
of the Frenchstyleaccused
kindof radical chic, and the supporters
themofholdingan esotericand unnaturaltaste.As one essayistcomof the Italian stylewere"a
mentedearlyin the century,proponents
littlesectof half-knowledgeable,
peopleof
thoughfairlyprestigious,
whodisplaytheircategoricalopinionsand proscribeFrench
property
Música italiana
era
Lecerf
music
as dulland tasteless,or entirely
insipid".33
desencorajada na dogmatically,
of the Italian vocal
likewisecriticizedthe elaborateornamentation
França
onlyto connoisseurs.34
styleas comprehensible
By the middleof the eighteenthcenturyenough Italian instrumentaland vocal musichad appearedin the ConcertSpiritueland
privateconcertsthattheItalianstylegraduallyenteredgeneraltaste.35
themselves
stillinvokedtheold
But conservative
connoisseurs,
writers,
thedispute
accusationsagainstit.In thefamousquerelledesbouffons,
over Pergolesi'sLa servapadrona in 1752, the powerfullitterateur
32Francois Raguenet,A Comparison betweenthe French and Italian Operas
(London, 1709; repr.London, 1968), pp. 35, 42.
Música italiana era
33Bonnet,op. cit.,i, p. 293.
34 Lecerf,op. cit.,ii, p. 8 I. See also Bonnet,op. cit.,i, p. 293; Francois
considerada
Cartaudde exótica e
La Villate,Essai historiqueetphilosophique(Paris, 1736), pp. 291-5. vulgar, pelos adeptos da
35See Pierre,Histoiredu ConcertSpirituel,appendix;LowellLindgren,
"Parisian
música
francesa
fromthe Royal Academyof Musick, 1719-28",Music and
Patronageof Performers
lviii
Letters,
(I977), PP. 4-29.
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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE
69
as an intellectual
Elie Freronridiculedthework'ssupporters
minority:
haveperformed,
there
"one mayobservethat,wheneverthebouffons
and
havebeenonlyone or twogeometricians,
lawyers publicists[inthe
Anotherpolemicist
ofthatfaction
audience],and almostnowomen".36
ridiculedone of his opponentsreadingan Italianlibrettoand saying,
"I thenfallasleep,sinceI am a connoisseur".37
stoodwithinthesocialstrucLet us nowlookat whereconnoisseurs
tureof themusicalworld.The idea thattheymustservethegeneral
public,thoughstatedby Lecerfand othersin aestheticterms,had a
ofmusicallife.As Henri
firmsocialbasisin thecustomsand traditions
Lagravehas shownin hisstudyofParisiantheatreaudiencesbetween
1715and 1750,thepublicat thefourhallswas small,regularin attenThat was
dance,and shareda commonbodyof artisticexperience.38
the
de
Academie
true
at
the
Royale Musique,
opera-house,
particularly
weremountedannually,
whereon averageonlysix new productions
threeor fourtimesa week,elevenmonthsa year.39The
performed
ConcertSpirituel,heldin theTuilerieson holydayswhenthetheatres
wereshut,repeatedmuchof the same repertoire,
plus instrumental
musicwhichpeopleheardin salonsand sacredmotetsin churches.A
or aessenseof generaltastewithlittledifferentiation
byinstitutions
theticlevel thus grewfromthis unityof repertoireand composing
practicesoftheancienregimelimitedtheproliferstyles.Monopolistic
for authoritiesperation or specializationof musical institutions,
mittedfewconcertsto rivalthe ConcertSpirituel.Onlyin thenineteenthcenturydid opera and concerthalls expand and becomedifferentiated
bymusicalgenresand levelsoftaste.
That musicaleventshad a loose social etiquette,by today'sstandardsat least,came in partfromthegeneralnatureoftheiraudience
and theirtaste.At the opera people sometimessang along withthe
music;at othertimestheyhad a hardtimehearingit overthehullathe well-born
baloo of thepetit-maitres,
teenagers(oftenfromcourt)
in thepitwas trying
toattractattention
whosemainactivity
bywaving
It was,afterall, theirprivilege.
and shoutinginsults.40
theirlorgnettes
36 Elie Freron,Lettressur la musiquefranfaise(Geneva, I754), pp. 7-8.
[M.-F.-P. de Mairobert],Les prophitiesdu grandpropheteMonet (Paris, 1753),
ed. Denise Launay, 3 vols.(Geneva, 1973), i, p. 304. See also
in Querelledes bouffons,
Anon.,La guerrede l'opera (Paris, 1752), in ibid.,i, p. 322; F.-A. Chevrier,Observationssur le thdetrefrancais
(Paris, 1755), p. 74; [La Porte(ed.)], Observationssur la
litterature
moderne,i, pp. 233-4.The accusationthatmusicwas onlyforconnoisseurs
was, however,thrownat almosteverymajorcomposerat some timeor another:for
Lully,see Bonnet,op. cit.,i, pp. 306-7; forRameau, see F.-A. Chevrier,Les ridicules
du siecle (Paris, 1752), p. 39.
38 Lagrave,Le thedtre
et le public d Paris de I7z5 a 1750, pp. 170-204.
39 For an intensivestudyof repertoire,
see E. Giuliani, "Le public et l'Opera de
Internat.Rev.Aestheticsand Sociologyof
Parisde 1750 a 1760: mesureetdefinition",
Music, viii (1977), pp. 159-8I.
40
Lagrave,op. cit.,pp. 220-34; [JosephAddison],The Spectator,ed. D. F. Bond, 5
vols. (Oxford,1965), i, pp. 122-3 (3 Apr. 171 ); J. B. de Boyer,marquisd'Argens,
Lettresjuives,6 vols. (The Hague, I738), i, p. I6.
37
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70
PAST AND PRESENT
NUMBER 89
butthese
Complaintsweremade,mostoftenprobablybyconnoisseurs,
learnedamateursdidnotstylethemselves
as socialor artisticidealists.
If an occasionalpuristsaid thatpeoplewentto concertsor theopera
didnotseriously
dissentfromthesocial
"onlytobe seen",connoisseurs
customsof theirtime.41
They certainlydid notobjectto thesexualsideof musicallife.For
learnedor no, theopera functioned
as an elemanygentilshommes,
- un bureaudeplaisir,one writercalledit
ganthouseofprostitution
withtheyoungwomenin themusicaland dancecorps,lesfilles de
l'opera.42 The ConcertSpirituelstoodon no higheran ethicalplane;
to meetsingers"as remanymenwentthere,one amateurreported,
nowned for theirbeauty as for theirlibertineinclinations",with
whom"small,intimatedinnerswouldsucceedthespirituality
of the
concert".43The best-known
connoisseurof the mid-eighteenth
cenLe Richede La Pouptury,Rameau's patronAlexandre-Jean-Joseph
liniere,was especiallyknownforhis exploits,and publishedstories
whichtheMemoiressecretsofBachaumontcalled"a rhapsodyworthy
to serve the colporteur".44
Yetwe shouldnotthinkofeighteenth-century
musicalexperience
as
unseriousor disorderly.
Let us considera spectrum
ofsocial
inherently
of
(not,ofcourse,socialclasses)possibleamongmembers
relationships
a public,rangingfromstrictly
individualto impersonalin a massconOur ownmusicallifetendstowardstheextremes,
text.45
sinceconcerthall etiquetteand therecord-player
have definedlistening
moreas an
individualthana socialexperience,
and concertmanagement
and the
productionof recordsare massprocesses.That ofeighteenth-century
in between.It had almostno masssocialstrucFrancelay somewhere
ture;publishingwas stillsmallin scale and dependedupon personal
All musicalevents,fromtheoperahall
fordistribution.
relationships
to thecourtto theprivatesalon,werebasedon an intricatewebofpersonalties,formostpeoplein thepublicdealtin somemannerwithperformersand witheach other.These exchangescontrolledbehaviour
41 See, for
example,Anon.,Lettresd'un amateur,pp. 56-7.
42 [Francois
de Saint Paul], Le vol
haut ou
Mayeur
plus
l'espion des principaux
A publicação
deSee
livros
thdetres
de la capitale(Paris, 1784), p. 42. Commentson thesematters
are endless.
F.-A.Chevrier,Constitution
de l'Opera (Paris, 1750),pp. xliii-xliv,
lxii-lxiii;Chevrier,
dependia
dos contatos
Les ridiculesdu siecle,pp. 39-42; Anon.,Les confessions
xxx(Amsterdam,
du comte
deautor
do
1741), p. 124; Boyer,op. cit.,i, pp. 182-92,234-46; Emile Raunie,Chansonniershistoriquesdu XVIIIcsiecle, I o vols.(Paris, 1879),vii,pp. 47-50, 158-67.
43[Mayeurde Saint Paul], op. cit.,pp. 26-7.
44 [Louis Petitde Bachaumontet al.], Memoiressecretspour servira l'histoirede la
republiquedes lettresen France, 36 vols. (London, 1777-89), iii, p. 255 (22 Aug.
1767). Englandhad a closeparallelto La Pouplinierein JohnMontague,earlofSandwich,notoriousplayboyand the betrayerof JohnWilkes,who was amongthe most
powerfulmusicalamateursof his time.
4S The social model derivesfromPhilippeAries,Centuriesof Childhood,trans.
RobertBaldick (New York, 1962), pp. 365-415.
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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE
7I
and indeedgenerateda seriousartisticclimate:patron ties forced
peopleto listen.
If we look at the otherend of the spectrum,the societyhad little
individualexperience.That was to comein
senseofmusicas a strictly
the nineteenthcentury,as Romanticbeliefsand the tighteningof
social etiquettein publichalls separatedlistenersfromone another.
Beforethathappened,thejudgementofmusicor itsperformance
was
seen ratheras a socialprocess.Etiquetteallowedtalk,movingabout,
evencard-playing
and occasionalfisticuffs,
and whilethatmaymean
to
to
of
the
time
it
us,
anarchy
people
compriseda controlledsocial
interplaywhichwas integralto musicalexperience.Lecerfsuggested
in thewordsofla comtesse:
thissensibility
To acquire good taste,we accustomourselvesto judgingeverything
bylisteningto
our naturalsentiment
and byconfirming
itwithbig and littlerules... Attheopera
ofspectatorsand letourselvesidentify
thejudgeDiferença
entre amateur
we studywithcare themovements
mentsof the publicand our own by the judgementof time.46
, connoisseur e savant
The connoisseur
in a social
had an ambiguousauthority
necessarily
contextof thiskind.A claim to specialknowledgecould threatenthe
ifpressedtooharditcouldthreatenthe
principleofnaturalsentiment;
principleofprivilegeand upsettheintricateprocessofsocialexchange
throughwhichgood taste was thoughtto emerge.For that reason
Lecerfhad a profoundsuspicionbothof le savantand le connaisseur:
theirrolewas to informthepublic,notdictateits preferences.
"The
personwho knowshow to praise in a reasonableand proportioned
manner",he said, "will be a perfectconnoisseur".47
Similarconceptions
ofconnoisseur
and publichad a longvintagein
thetheatre.In a studyof seventeenth-century
FrenchrhetoricHugh
M. Davidson has shownhow writerssaw the theatreworldas composed of les doctes and a wider body of les mondains or les honnetes
The dutyof therhetorician
was to bringthelearnedtogether
withthelargerpublicbyputtingelevatedideas in an accessibleform.
Davidson has depictedhow the public wieldedpowerover taste in
Frenchtheatre,in muchthesame manneras we have seenin musical
life.One can indeedfindmanyof thesamedynamicsas wellin Elizabethanand Restoration
theatre:theprimacyofthepublicwas thesine
qua non ofculturallifein theearlymodernperiod.
Yet thesesimilarities
had important
limits.Sincemusichad no true
classicalheritage,itshierarchy
ofknowledgewas weaklydefined,and
itslearnedmenhad no institutional
no academy.IftheAcaauthority,
demieFrancaisedevoteditselfto codifying
the Frenchlanguageand
gens.48
46 Lecerf,Comparaisonde la musiqueitalienne,ii, p.
309. See also CharlesBatteux,
Les beaux-artsreduitsa un memeprincipe(Paris, 1747), p. I25.
47Lecerf,op. cit.,ii, p. 315.
48 H. M. Davidson, Audience, Wordsand Art: Studies in Seventeenth-Century
French Rhetoric (Columbus, Ohio, I965), pp. 50, I26-32,
151-2.
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72
PAST AND PRESENT
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- thusgoverning
all modesofdiscourse- the
writinga dictionary
AcademieRoyalede Musiquewas onlyan operacompanywitha fancy
name,a royalshow-placewitha classicalveneer.It in no wayresembled the academiesin science,literatureand theplasticarts,and not
until 1791 did it acquire an educationalarm. By the same token,
musiciansmightsometimesentertainmembersof the Academiedes
butthesocietyhad no musicaldivision,
et Belles-Lettres,
Inscriptions
or amateur.49
eitherprofessional
Musical lifealso had a muchmoreweaklydefinedaesthetichierarchyamongartisticformsthan the otherfields.By the end of the
seventeenth
and thefinearts,
centurytherehad emergedin literature
farmorethanin music,carefullydefinedschemesas to theaesthetic
ofdifferent
forms.The rankingsseenamongtheepic,the
importance
sonnetand theepigraminpoetry,
or betweentheportrait,
historyand
music,
landscapepaintings,had almostno parallel in instrumental
in practice.50
The distinction
manyofwhoseformsvariedenormously
ofa paralbetweentragedielyriqueand operacomiquehad something
lel withtragicand comicdrama,butas JamesR. Anthony
has argued,
the librettosof tragedies lyriquesweregalant ratherthan heroicor
ofdanceandspectaclewerethefocusof
tragic,and thedivertissements
attentionformuchof thepublic.51Institutional
parallelsaside,Lully
took
was notthoughta musicalRacine.Moreovermanyconnoisseurs
the importedopera buffaveryseriouslyindeedfromthestartof the
and after1750 thelocal operacomiqueas well.The theatres
century,
whichpresentedtheseworksdrewuponmuchthesamepublicas the
was a ritualAcad6mieRoyalede Musique; muchof theirrepertoire
ized satireof thespectaclespompeuxin theotherhall.52
One couldevenarguethatthemassofthepeoplestoodoutsidethe
generaltasteoftheupperorderslessbecausethemusicseemedesoteric
thanbecausetheydidnotsharein thesocialgracesoftheelegantstyle
galant. Even so, manyopera airs werecommonlysung along with
themainParisianlocale foritinerant
popularsongsat thePont-Neuf,
ballad singers;Lecerfregardedthatas one of thebestproofsofgood
49[P. C. de La Blancherie(ed.)],Les nouvellesde la republiquedeslettresetdesarts,
7 vols. (Paris, 1777-87),iv, pp. 141 (15 May 1782), 163-4 (5 June 1782); and frequentlyin 1782-4. For membersof theacademies,see Almanachroyal,lxxix(1780),
pp. 472-97.
50See WilliamS. Newman,The Sonata in the Baroque Era (New York, 1959);
curieux
White,Canvasesand Careers;KrzysztofPomian,"Marchands,connaisseurs,
a Paris au XVIIIe siecle",Revue de l'art,xliii( 979), pp. 23-6; Davidson,op. cit.,pp.
I72-7.
51Anthony,
FrenchBaroque MusicfromBeaujoyeulxtoRameau, pp. 33, 70-4. See
also PatrickJ.Smith,The TenthMuse:A HistoricalStudyoftheOpera Libretto(New
York, 1970), pp. 42-7.
52 R. M. Isherwood,
"Popular Musical Entertainmentin Eighteenth-Century
Paris", Internat.Rev. Aestheticsand SociologyofMusic, ix (I 978), pp. 295-3 0.
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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE
73
taste.53Indeed themusicof the opera comiquederivedin largepart
fromVoltaire
frompopularsongs,and the mostfamouslitterateurs
knew
downwardsalso wrotechansonsto be sungto tuneseverybody
in clubsand salons.54
since
lowin theaesthetichierarchy
In Francemusiclayparticularly
theretheliteraryworldhad such a powerfultraditionand controlled
learneddiscussionofmusic.How coulda musicianrivaltheloftyprosay to a
grammeof the AcademieFrancaise?Whatcould a librettist
professionalopera-haterlike Boileau? No Frenchlibrettisttriedto
have his worksread as poetryindependentof the music,as Italian
writerssuchas ApostoloZeno did,publishing
expandedtextswithsecIfgensde lettreslookeddownon
tionsnotintendedto be performed.5
music,theoperamostof all, thatcame in partfromjealousytowards
ofmusicin thelivesoftheupperclasses.Voltaire,for
theimportance
example,grumbledthat:
theopera is a publicrendezvouswherewe assembleon certaindayswithoutknowingwhy.It is a place whereeveryonegoes,althoughwe speakillofthecomposerand
is requiredto drawthemultitudeto
thoughhe be boring.By contrast,a majoreffort
theComedie,and I almostalwaysfindthatthegreatestsuccessofa finetragedydoes
not approachthatof a mediocreopera.56
Frenchmusicallifealso had a less learnedacademictraditionthan
elsewhere.DuringthereignofLouis XIV thestileanticoall butdisappearedfromthemusicofthecourtchapels;worksbased on theBaroque basso continuo,called motetsbut relatedto thecantata,dramaso different
tizedRoyalGallicanismbytheirgrandeurand modernity,
in theVatican'sSistineChapel. While
fromtheantiquecounterpoint
musicwrittento theold techniquepersistedat NotreDame and other
cathedrals,itdid notfosteras stronga traditionoffugalwritingin an
academicveinas was foundamonglearnedcomposersin othercountries.57In LondontheMadrigalSocietyand theAcademyofAncient
It's
arguable
53 Lecerf,op. cit.,ii,pp. 300-I. See also JacquesLacombe,Dictionnaire
des that the
portatif
corpus of musical
beaux-arts(Paris, 1755), p. 391.
54Anthony,op. cit.,pp. 335-49; Naudin,Evolutionparallele de la poesie
et de la of that time
publications
siecle,this
musique en France, pp. 155-8; Raunie, Chansonniershistoriquesdu XVIIIe
contradicts
reportsin [J.
passim.A fewworkingmenmade theirwayintotheopera pit: see policeaffirmation
de La Porte(ed.)],Almanachdes spectaclesde Paris,43 vols.(Paris, 1752-94),viii,pp.
8-27.
55 R. S. Freeman,"ApostoloZeno's Reformof the Libretto",Jl. Amer.Musicological Soc., xxi (1968), pp. 321-41. J. R. Anthonycoined the term"professional
opera-hater":Anthony,op. cit.,p. 70.
56 Voltaireto Cedeville,
ed. T. Besterman,107
15 Nov. 1732, in Correspondence,
vols. (Geneva, 1953-65),ii, pp. 386-7. For a claim thatsocial etiquettewas morerestrainedin the Comedie Francaise than in the Opera, see Mercurede France, June
1750, pp. I41-2.
57 Denise Launay, NorbertDufourcq and J. R. Anthony,"Church Music in
France", in New OxfordHistoryofMusic, i i vols. (London, I954-75), v, Opera and
ChurchMusic, 1630-1750 (London, 1975), pp. 414-92; Anthony,FrenchBaroque
Music fromBeaujoyeulxto Rameau, pp. 155-218.
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74
PAST AND PRESENT
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Music sponsoredperformances
of madrigalsand canonsfromthesixteenthandseventeenth
centuries.
Eventhoughthesemusic-and-dining
clubsweresmall,privateand unrepresentative
ofanytrendsin learned or generaltaste,theyactedas an independent
base forconnoisseurs
of thekindnotfoundin France.58Furthermore
Frenchconnoisseurs
do notseemto have beenactivecollectorsofold musicmanuscripts
as
theirEnglishcounterparts
were.59
Frenchconnoisseursnevertheless
exerciseda greaterauthorityin
publiclifethan theircolleagueselsewhere,forthe independenceperhapstheisolation- ofthenation'smusicallifebreda specialsophisticationof taste which flourishedin the luxuriantintellectual
climateofeighteenth-century
Paris.As theonlycountryoutsideItaly
withstrongindigenous
operagenres,Francehad a traditionofcritical
comment- a connoisseurship
ofopinion- rivalledbynone.60That
mayhave beenpossiblein partbecausemusicwas notviewedwithas
muchmoralsuspicionin Franceas inEnglandor Protestant
Germany.
Connoisseurscouldtakestrongpublicleadershipbecausetheydidnot
have to fearethicalattacksupon theirinterests.61
Frenchconnoisseurs,
then,did not formpartof a "high" musical
tradition.
As intermediaries
betweenmusiciansand thegeneralpublic,
theywererespectedfortheirknowledgeand theirleadershipin musical life,buttheydidnotstandapartfromthepublicintheirtastes.The
customsofmusicallifehad weakhierarchies,
whetheramongmusical
formsor thesocialpurposesofmusic,andlimitedthedifferentiation
of
and theauthority
of theknowledgeable
amateurand the
participants
musician.Did musicallifesufferthereby?
Even if thesevalues may
seemaliento theelevatedprinciplesofmodernclassical-music
life,we
mustremember
thattheygave musicalaffairsa contemporaneity,
an
earthinessand a lack of intellectualpretension,
qualitieswhichcan
with the dogmatichistoricism
of musicallife
compareattractively
today.
58On the Academyof AncientMusic, see J. Doane, Musical Directory(London,
1794), pp. 76-86; Anon.,WordsofSuch Pieces as are Most UsuallyPerformedbythe
AcademyofAncientMusic (London, I76 ). On theMadrigalSociety,see J.G. Craufurd,"The MadrigalSociety",Proc. Roy.Musical Soc., lxxxii(1956), pp. 33-46,and
J. G. Craufurd,"A List of Memorandaon VariousAspectsoftheMadrigalSociety",
Papers of the MadrigalSociety,Brit.Lib., Dept. of Music.
59AlexanderHyatt King, Some BritishCollectorsof Music, c. 1600-1960 (Cambridge,1963). In FrancemusicbeforeLully'stimehad fewadmirers.See Lecerf,Comparaison de la musiqueitalienne,iii,pp. 251-7,and iv,pp. 124-6;Batteux,Les beauxarts rdduitsd un mme principe,p. 286; [J.-L.Castillon?],"Fugue", in Supplementd
l'encyclopedie, 4 vols. (Amsterdam,1776-7),iii, pp. 143-4.
60 For a
biased,but probablyreliable,comparisonof Frenchand Englishconnoisseurs,seeJournalde Paris, 17 Jan. I780, pp. 72-3.
61 Ethical
reproachesagainstmusic,commonin theseventeenth
century,returned
in forceduringthe decade beforethe revolution.For moralistic(and vaguelyJansenist)attacksupon theOpera,ConcertSpiritueland Beaumarchais,see Anon.,Lettre
de M***, negociantde Paris, d M***, correspondant
d D*** (Paris, 1786).
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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE
75
Who, then,wereles connaisseurs?What kindsof knowledgeand
did theyclaim?Therewerethreemaintypesofconnoisseurs
authority
in Franceduringthistime:thewriteroflearnedaesthetics,
thewriter
of generalmusicalcommentary,
and the amateurand patron.Not
manypeople had morethan one kindof interest.Whileeach of the
threetypeshad considerablerangeofsocialbackground,
at leastwithin theprosperous
somewhatintheproporclasses,thegroupsdiddiffer
tionsof people on variouslevels:patronsusuallystood the highest,
and general writersthe lowest. Each type underwentsignificant
In theevolutionofthethreegroupsduring
changeduringthecentury.
thisperiodwe can see social tendencieswhichforeshadowthebreakdownof the unitarypublicafterthe turnof thenineteenth
century.
The roleswhichconnoisseurs
builtup in Parisat thistimemadethem
principalagentsof social forces- commercialism,
professionalism
and artisticidealism-which werelaterto splintermusicallifeinto
separatedomainsand reshapethewholetextureof musicaltaste.
The musicalpatronis a subjectas yetlittleexplored,and we can
make only a few limitedpointshere. The backgroundof patrons
emergesfroma tabulationby Anne Chastel of all thosepersonsto
whommusicwas dedicatedand whowerementioned
in periodicalsbetween 774 and 1789- a periodfarricherin printedcommentary
on
musicthan pre-I77o.62By no meanswould all of thesepeoplehave
beenknownas connoisseurs,
butsincetheydidmorethansimplytake
musiclessons,mostof themajorconnoisseurs
of thistypemusthave
beenamongthem.Amongthe560 names,6 percentwerewomenand
Sincewomenplayedso
38 percentmen,withI percentunidentifiable.
centrala roleindomesticmusic-making,
of
many themmusthavebeen
Aristocrats
loomedlargeamongpatrons:44
regardedas connoisseurs.
per centof the personshad statedtitles(includingbaron,chevalier,
and royalty),3I percenthad theprefixde in theirnames,and 25 per
The largenumberofpersonswithmajortitles
centhad neither.63
207 were prince, marquis, duc, comte, vicomte,or the female equiva-
lents
behindthe pasuggeststhe severeeconomicrequirements
tron'srole.But forthatveryreasontheremusthavebeenotheramateursof lesserstatuswho,thoughnot able to affordthehighcostof
musiciansforworksdonein manuscript.
publication,remunerated
The patronexerted,firstand foremost,
theeconomicauthority
ofa
mecene(protector),
but thatrolegrewout of musicalactivityand indeeda presumedmusicalauthority.
Mostpatronssangorplayedan in62 A. Chastel,"Etude surla vie musicalea Paris a traversla
pressependantle regne
de Louis XVI", Recherchessur la musiquefranaaiseclassique au XVIIIe siecle,xvii
(1977), PP. 118-49.
63Titles were only slightlymorenumerousamong the personswho rentedboxes
(fullor partial)at theOpera thanamongthepatrons.In April1768,forexample,the
104 rentersincluded52 percentpersonswithtitles,32 percentpersonswithde in their
names,and 15 percentwithneither.See "Loges louees a l'ann&e": A.N., AJ1314.
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76
PAST AND PRESENT
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strument,
taughtby theirmusicalclients;workswereoftenwritten
withpedagogicalpurposesforspecificpeople. A numberof patrons
themselvescomposed,even published,musical pieces, thoughthey
ofa musician,and none
generallydid thatundertheclosesupervision
developedcomposingcareers.64
or composers
Patrons'renowncame less fromskillas performers
thanfromthewideractivitiestheypursuedin musicallife,manyof
whichwerelaterto passintoprofessional
hands.Concertsinhomes,or
in Parisbeat a salon,had particularimportance
simplyperformances
cause thestatemonopolyof theConcertSpirituel- bestowedbythe
opera - limitedthe numberof otherpublicconcerts.Patronsfuncfavourforthem
tionedas agentsfortheirmusicians'careers,currying
in highplaceswithinthestatemusicalsystem.A fewbecamedirectors
of theopera,investingtheircapital as entrepreneurs.65
Those whose
musicianscomposedservedas a distribution
network,
obtainingpaymentforsubscriptions
formusiceitherpublishedor in manuscript.66
In 1757 an amateur,supposedlya majorin thecavalry,thelargely
aristocratic
noirs,describedthatsystem:
mousquetaires
Everyhouse has its favouritemusician;it is he who sets the tone of musicallife,
withhis pieces.
forcinghis studentsto do his biddingand fillingtheirmusic-stands
The masterof thehouseoccupieshimselfin vauntingthemusician'sworksand in
pressingcopies upon thosecomplacentenoughto buy them.67
He suggestedhowlearnedamateurslikehimselfwieldedinfluence
in
public concertsand mightsee theirmusicalinterestsas purerthan
thoseof thegeneralpublic:
concertsare attendedby a largenumberof idle peopleand onlya smallnumberof
connoisseurs;womenare theornamentsof theoccasionand a sourceof emulation
fortheperformers.
Onlya fewamongthepublicare able to judgetalent,or evento
to chat,
talk about it, since the largestnumbersimplycome to amuse themselves,
about.68
and to showthemselves
64 The amateurs
recognizedthe mostwidelyas composerswere the chevalierde
in the I730s; thechevalierd'Herbain,
Brassac, who had twoopera-balletsperformed
who presentedseveralintermezziin Italy in the I750s; the baron de Rumling,who
publishedan opera and severalquartetsin the 1780s; and thebaronde Bagge,author
of a varietyof pieces.
65 See "Precis sur l'administration
de l'AcademieRoyale de Musique", i Mar.
in favourofmusiciansand
I783, and lettersof amateursto theopera administration
at theopera,see "Reglelibrettists:
A.N., o1 614-15.For contractsofprivilege-holders
ments":A.N., AJ132.
66 On the
in the eighteenth
century,see AnikDevries,
historyof music-publishing
Edition et commercede la musique gravee d Paris (Geneva, 1976); Klaus Hortin der zweitenHalftedes 8. Jh.",in
schansky,"Der Musikerals Musikalienhandler
vom 17. bis i9. Jh. (Kassel,
W. Salmen (ed.), Der Sozialstatusdes Berufsmusikers
197I), pp. 83-102.
67 Ancelet[pseud.?],Observationssur la musique,les musicienset les instruments
(Paris, 1757),p. 39. The workshowsa highdegreeofmusicalknowledgeand sophistication. See "Ancelet", in F.-J. Fetis,Biographieuniverselledes musiciens,8 vols.
(Paris, I860-5), i, p. 94.
68Ancelet,op. cit.,p. 38.
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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE
77
But he did notdeludehimselfas to howfarhis authority
went,forhe
at the
citedthecase ofa singerwhofailedtomakea strongimpression
fora careerat the opera
ConcertSpirituel-the starting-point
"even thoughhe generallygained the approvalof the trueconnoisestiseurs".69Interestingly
enough,laterin thecenturya playwright
matedthatabout a thirdof thepeopleat thatseriesmightbe called
connaisseurs.70
The mostprominent
patronshad highlypublicand controversial
careersas connoisseursand werein somewaysatypicalof theircolhighand notreleagues.Thoughtheirsocial standingwas relatively
as
centlygained,theydidnothavemajortitles,and theirassertiveness
patronsoftengave themreputationsas culturalarrivistes.La Poupliniere,who exerteda powerfulinfluenceon the evolutionof eightmusicas thesupporter
ofRameau,JohannStamitzand
eenth-century
of some importance,
Gossec,was a farmer-general
Francois-Joseph
which
minor
titleand
of
a
Limousin
had
had
a
aristocratic
part
family
One of
connections
withtheroyalhousesincethesixteenth
century.71
hisleadingsuccessorswas thebaronde Bagge,thesonofa seigneurat
who settledin Paris about 1750,
thecourtof Saxe-Gotha-Meiningen
publisheda numberof stringquartets,and hostedone of the bestAn operacomiquecalledLa meloknownmusicalsalonsin thecity.72
in 1781withthebaronsupposedly
inmind,flatters
him
manie,written
forliking"little-known
music(la musiquerare)" and forhislearning
("Monsieur,vous etes savant!") but showshimso "possessedby the
demonmusic" thathe all but marrieshis daughterto an unknown
Italian musician.73Thus did the suspicionof musicas magical and
demonicliveon. Ironicallyenough,thescoreto theoperettawas dedibutto thedaughteroftheprincede Conde,
catednotto Baggehimself
an amateurwhostoodamongthemostprestigious
musicalpatrons.
we
see
the
first
that
can
the
1770s
commercialism
By
strongsigns
was reshapingtherolesofpatrons.By traditiontherelationsbetween
patronand musicianhad beenpersonal,usuallyexclusive,and absoluof thepatron.By theearlyninetelyclearin respectoftheauthority
teenthcenturypatronagewas developingintoa cash nexuswithout
exclusivestatusorresidence.The changecamewithinthelargertransof servants'rolesat theend of thecentury,thedeclinein
formation
69 Ibid., p. 17.
70
[Mayeurde Saint Paul], Le vol plus haut ou l'espiondesprincipauxthedtresde
la capitale,p. 26.
71
GeorgesCucuel,La Poupliniereetla musiquede chambreau XVlllesiecle (Paris,
as a memberof a "rising"
1913), pp. 3-6. He has oftenbeen represented,
mistakenly,
middleclass; fora surveyofsuchproblems,see W. Weber,"The MuddleoftheMiddle
Music, iii (1979), pp. 175-85.
Classes", Nineteenth-Century
72 G. Cucuel, "Un melomaneau XVIIIe siecle: le baron de Bagge et son temps",
Annee musicale,i ( 191 ), pp. 145-86.
73 Grenier[sic],La melomanie,in Collectiondes thedtres
francais:suite du repertoire,81 vols. (Senlis, 1829), xxxii,pp. I85-224.
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78
PAST AND PRESENT
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theirstatusand distancingfromtheirmasters,but some musicians
ended up muchbetteroffthan the butleror the maid because they
learnedso wellto markettheirskillsand theirmusic.74
These changescame earlyin Francebecausethecentralization
of
musicallifeunderstateauspicesand theweak musicalleadershipof
Louis XV made patronageless of a guidingsocial principlethan in
Italyor England.The tabulationofpatronsin thetwodecadesbefore
therevolution
showsthatmusiciansweremovingfreelyfromone patron's householdto another,eitherin residenceor simplysupport.75
Diderot'sLe neveude Rameau, thougha highlyidiosyncratic
work,
ofmusiciansin itserstwhile
character:
displaysthenewindependence
"I am alwaysin a hurry",he confidesto theauthor,"and ifI am kept
waitinga momentI shoutas thoughI am beingrobbed".76
Patronscontributed
just as muchto the change,sinceas musical
entrepreneurs
theywishedto reducethecostofdomesticsupportand
investin thecareersofnumerousmusicians.At thesame time,howclientsas muchas beever,theydid notneedmusiciansas permanent
forebecauseofthegrowthofthepublishing
As AnikDevries
industry.
has shown,duringthemid-eighteenth
shiftedtheir
century
publishers
from
works
to
or
individual
to
editions,
output
weekly monthlytabloids of sheetmusic sold by subscription
whichprovideda regular
Once aidedbytheinvenstapleofmusicfordomesticmusic-making.77
tionoflithography,
theindustry
ofmusical
was to turntheframework
tastetopsy-turvy.
Two typesof connoisseurs
came fromtheranksofgensde lettres:
aestheticians
and generalwriters.The musicalaestheticians
displaya
consistentsocial profilein theirbackground;thoughnonehad major
aristocratic
titles,virtuallyall came fromthetraditionalelitesactive
in intellectuallife. The one woman among them,Anne Lefebvre
were
Dacier,was a scholarin herownright.Manyoftheaestheticians
in ordersat somepointintheircareers,mostnotablyCharlesBatteux,
Dubos, FrancoisCartaud de La Villate,Noel Antoine
Jean-Baptiste
Plucheand Francoisde Chateauneuf.Otherscame fromfamiliesac- Lecerfde la Vieville,Louis Bollioudde Mermet,
tiveinparlements
Desfontaines.A
JacquesBonnet,Louis Cahusac and Pierre-Francois
fewhad careersin themilitaryor diplomaticcorps- Francois-Jean
74JudithTick, "Musician and Mecene: Some Observationson Patronagein Late
France", Internat.Rev. Aestheticsand Sociologyof Music, iv
Eighteenth-Century
(1973), PP. 245-56; Cissie Fairchilds,"Mastersand Servantsin Eighteenth-Century
Toulouse", Jl. Social Hist., xii (1979), pp. 368-93.
75Chastel,"Etfidesur la vie musicalea Paris", p. 144.
76 Denis Diderot, Rameau's Nephew, trans. L. W. Tancock (Harmondsworth,
1966), p. 6 I. See Daniel Heartz, "Diderotet le theatrelyrique:le 'nouveau stile'propose par Le neveude Rameau", Revue de musicologie,lxiv(1978), pp. 229-52.By the
I830s Paris had by farthe mostcommercializedmusicworldin Europe; see Weber,
Music and theMiddle Class, ch. 3, "The High-StatusPopular-MusicPublic".
77Devris, Editionet commercede la musiquegraveed Paris,passim.
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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE
79
de la Martiniere.None seemsto
Chastelleuxand Antoine-Augustin
a businesscareer.78Theirbackground
have had anythingresembling
thatof membersof provincialacadtherefore
roughlyapproximates
Nor
emies,thoughwitha somewhatgreaterclericalrepresentation.79
did publicistsformpartof thispatriciangroup.Jeand'Alembertand
on music
Rousseaucameclose,butmostoftheirwritings
Jean-Jacques
had eithera practicalor a polemicalslantwhichtendedto separate
themfromeruditespeculationson le bongozit.80 Onlya fewoftheaestheticiansseem to have had extensivemusical trainingor to have
playedthemecenein musicallife.The principalexceptionwas MichelPaul de Chabanon,a manofleisurewhopassedthrougha Jesuiteduon theviolin,and hiscation,technicalstudyof music,performance
toricaland aestheticwriting.81
We can presumethatthe aestheticianshad a readershipat least
roughlysimilarin social statusand education.These people would
countamongthereadersoftheJournaldessavantsand theJournalde
Trevoux,bothof whichpublishedfrequentarticleson musictheory
and aesthetics,assumingextensiveclassicaleducation.It was them,
notmusicians,to whomRameau addressedhis theoretical
works.82
The mostimportant
roleperformed
the
aestheticians
was to beby
stowtheblessingsoftheclassicaltradition
In so
uponmusicalactivity.
to whatwas an
doingtheytriedto providean intellectuallegitimacy
Even iftheirspeculations
essentiallyworldlyformof entertainment.
about Greekmusiccontributed
littleto themusicof theirtime,it reofFrenchlearning.They did,of
latedmusicallifeto themainstream
course,conceiveof musicin termsnow oftenthoughtexternalto the
78 Toussaint Remondde la
Mard, however,is reputedto have been the son of an
See "T. Remondde la Mard", in Biographicuniversellc,
ecuyeror a fermier-general.
ancienneet moderne,52 vols. (Paris, 1811-62),xli,p. 966.
79See Daniel Roche,"N6goceet culturedans la Franceau XVIIIesicle", Revue de
xxv(I978), pp. 375-96; Daniel Roche,"Milieux
I'histoiremoderneet contemporaine,
acad6miques provinciauxet soci6etdes lumieres",Livre et societe, i (1965), pp.
et academiciens",Livre et societe,ii (1970),
93-I83; Daniel Roche,"Encyclop6distes
pp. 73-92.
80The Memoiressecretsof Bachaumont,for example,identifiedRousseau as a
musicianin 1762,notingthathis newDictionnairede la musiqueaskedquestionsunusually profoundfora memberof that profession:[Bachaumontet al.], Memoires
Le
secrets,iii, p. 310 ( o Dec. 1762). Extraordinarily
enough,Rousseau's intermede,
at theOpera before1774whichwas not
devindu village,was theonlyworkperformed
in thechange-overof the I770S.
sweptout of therepertoire
81 M.-P. de Chabanon,Tableau de quelquesconsiderations
de ma vie (Paris, 1795).
He does not,however,appear to have been a majorpatron.
82 In the introduction
to his Traitede musiquetheoriqueetpratique(Paris, 1737),
his readersby sayingthatforthemmusicwas notjust "an
pp. 5-6,Rameau flattered
art of amusementforwhichtasteis concernedonlywithproducingand judgingproductions",whichis actuallyjust what mostconnoisseurswereinterestedin. One reviewercalled thestatement"a tastelessand falseencomium"and asked"what willall
thesegrandspeculationsdo fora dancer?": see [Guyot-Desfontaines
(ed.)], Observationssur les ecritslitteraires,
x, pp. 73, 84.
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80
PAST AND PRESENT
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art,termsderivedfromthedoctrinethatartmustimitatenature;their
was essentially
thatofliterature,
frameofreference
notmusicin and
of itself.As WalterRex has pointedout,thephilosophesasked that
music,as theservantof the text,make an imitationof naturetwice
removed- an imitation
ofan imitation.83But theycoulddo littleelse
in a periodwhenmusicdidnothaveitsownaesthetics;
sincemusicwas
a contemporary
had to draw upon the
art,its commentators
strictly
principlesoftheotherarts.
The aestheticians
also helpedto giveFrenchmusicallifea senseof
its own history,a contribution
which,thoughlimitedin its scope,
of the nineteenthcentury.Their
pointedahead to the historicism
vaunted authorityin Frenchculturemay help to explain why the
AcademieRoyalede Musique continuedto perform
manyoperasby
Lully and his successorsaftertheirdeaths.The musicof Lullywas a
in theeighteenth
centuryin manyof thesame
politicalphenomenon
it
Robert
Isherwood
has
shown
to have been in the sevenas
ways
Most of the aestheticians
actedas apologistsfortheartistic
teenth.84
orderinstalledbyLouis le Grand;theyeulogizedLullyalongwith
gavemusica
thoughnotequal to- Corneilleand Racine,andthereby
prominent
place in the Frenchculturalpantheon.Whilein his own
timeLullywas knownas an arriviste,
suchas
by 1746 an aesthetician
Bollioudde Mermetspokeonlyof thecomposer'sgreatness,and this
opinioncontinuedto holdswaydespitegrowingpublicboredomwith
the tragedies lyriques.The authorityof the connoisseuras judge of
tastewas centralto his historicalsensibility:
Now the timewhenLully lived,thatgreatLully,and severalothers,was the time
whenmusic,in theopinionof connoisseurs,
approachedtheclosestto goodtaste,to
thattruebeingwhichneverages ... It is the dutyof skilledconnoisseursto raise
theirvoicesagainsttastelesscustoms:it is fortheacademiesto protecttheefforts
of
partisansof good taste.85
ofgreatmusicfromthe
His notionoftheconnoisseuras theprotector
forthenineteenth
cenpastwas one ofthemostimportant
precedents
tury'seducatedamateurs- thedevoteesofBeethoven- whowereto
givemusicallifeitsownclassicaltradition.
In otherrespectstheaestheticians
werefarout ofstepwithgeneral
in instrumental
taste.For one thingtheyhad littleinterest
music,promusical
bablythemostrapidlydevelopingarea ofeighteenth-century
83 WalterRex, "A ProposoftheFigureofMusic in theFrontispiece
oftheEncyclopedie: Theoriesof Musical Imitationin d'Alembert,Rousseau and Diderot" (forthcomingin Proceedingsof the TwelfthCongressof the InternationalMusicological
Society,BerkeleyI977). For discussionof the dominanceof literaryover musical
see Snyders,Le goutmusicalenFranceaux XVIIeetXVIIIesiecles,passim.
aesthetics,
84 Isherwood,
Music in Serviceof theKing,passim; R. M. Isherwood,"The Third
Studies in Eighteenth-Century
War of the Musical Enlightenment",
Culture, iv
( 975), PP. 223-45.
85Bollioudde Mermet,De la corruptiondu goit dans la musiquefrancaise,
pp. 41,
i, pp. 297, 306-7; [L. Jau53. See also Bonnet,Histoirede la musiqueet de ses effets,
in
court],"Florence", Encyclopedie,vi, p. 877.
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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE
8I
life.Since fewof the aestheticianswere activeas patrons,theyhad
Bernard
littletasteforthesonataand resenteditsgrowingpopularity.
Fontenellewas creditedwitha bon motabouttheearlykeyboardsonata, "Sonate, que me veux-tu?",whichWalterRex has graciously
In 1772 a writerin
translatedas "Sonata, whatis yourproblem?".86
the Spectateur francais took issue with him:
"Sonate, que me veux-tu?",wroteFontenelle.The minuets,thetrios,theandantes
ofyourfeelingsand intoxicate
ofSchobertrespondto him:"I wantto possessmyself
myselfwithyourpleasures;I want to experienceyoursensibilityand accompany
yoursoul in itsdeliciousmovements".87
For anotherthing,to mostpeopletheoperahad littleto do withthe
connoisseurs'
ideas: tothemitwas unspectacle,a powerful
experience
offantasy-like
sets,luxuriantsounds,competitive
singersanddancers,
and an intensesocial experience.The reverencefor the librettoin
drewa lot of jokes,themostfamousofwhichwas
aestheticthinking
that Rameau supposedlysaid he could set the Gazettede France to
musicjustas wellas HippolyteetAricie.88Commentson whatpeople
on
saw in theoperagiveus a bettersenseofgeneraltastethanwritings
le bongozut.In I699 one writersaid bluntlythatthe"naturalinhabitants"oftheoperawere"a littlebizarre"and that"reasoningis rare
amongthesepeople".89He describedtheoccasion:
The opera,as I have said,is an enchantedjourney;it is theplace ofmetamorphoses;
of an eye menpose as demigods,and goddessesbecome
... therein the twinkling
human;therethe travellerdoes not have thepain of crossingthe country,forthe
countrypassesbeforeone's eyes;therewithoutsteppingoutone passesfromone end
of the worldto the other,fromthe firesof hell to the Elysianfields.Do you grow
boredin the desert?A momentlaterputsyou in theland of the gods; anotherand
you are in theland of the fairies.90
fora motto
Whenin 1768 directors
oftheoperaaskedforsuggestions
toplaceoverthedooroftheirnewhall,oneM. Le Clercde Montmeroy
sentin somelineswhichwererejectedbecause(helpfully
forus) they
werethoughtmoreofa description
thanan inscription:
The artsin thispalace producetheirmarvels,
To enchanthearts,eyesand ears.
In thisbrilliantpalace of the artsand fairies,
Heroes,gods,demons,all thesediversebeings,
Set to thechordsof modernOrpheans,
All are themovingpaintingofthisvast universe.91
86
Rex, op. cit.
Quoted in Journalde musiquepar une societe des amateurs,i (I773), no. 6,
pp. 70-I. JohannSchobertwas a Germancomposerresidentin Paris,knownforwriting easy musicforamateurs.BarryS. Brookhas shownthe richnessof instrumental
in Paris- and largelyignoredbymanyphilosophes
musiccomposedor performed
in hisLa symphoniefrancaise
dansla secondemoitiedu XVIII esicle.
88 [La Porte(ed.)],Almanachdesspectaclesde Paris,xx(177 I), p.
39; Chevrier,Les
ridiculesdu siecle,pp. 38-9.
89Charles Dufresny,
Amusementsserieuxet comiques(Amsterdam,I699), p. 32.
90Ibid., p. 30.
91 [Bachaumontet al.], Memoiressecrets,iv, p. I27 (30 Sept. 1768).
87
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82
PAST AND PRESENT
NUMBER 89
These passagesrevealhow closelythe opera functioned,
as filmsor
televisiondo today,as meansby whichpeoplecould takethemselves
byfantasyintofar-off
placesor imaginaryworlds.
Writersof musicalcommentary,
the second typeof connoisseur,
werealso gens de lettres,but theyknewmoreaboutmusicand stood
Theirpublimuchcloserto thegeneralpublicthantheaestheticians.
cationscovereda widespectrumofidioms:librettos,
reportson spectacles,handbookson musicand thetheatre,tractson recentmusical
events,and a plethoraof chansons,as well as theirlargeroutputof
plays, novels and the like. Though some of them touched upon
aestheticquestions,theirmain concernwas farmorepragmaticand
whodebatedwhat
orientedtowardsthepublicthanthatoflitteratears
Greekmusicwas like.If theywroteforjournalsit was moreoftenfor
the Mercure de France than theJournal de Trevoux. They performed
a varietyof rolesin musicallifesince manywroteforthe lyricand
dramatictheatres.
We owe to RobertDarntonrecognition
of thesignificance
of such
writers.92
In musicallifetheirsocial and professional
statusranged
writerto workadaypublicist.Atthetop
widelyfromthatofgentleman
endofthescalestoodJacques-Bernard
Dureyde Noinville,whoretired
fromtheparlementat Metztodevotehimself
toliterature,
producinga
the
man
handbook-like
of
the
Paris
and
about town
history
opera,
MontadourNeufvillede Brunaubois,who lefta militarycareer to
Morecomwriteracynovels,lightverse,and a eulogyto a soprano.93
such
monly,however,thesegensde lettreswere"Grub Street"writers
as Darntonhas shownexistedon theperiphery
oftheliteraryworld.
Josephde La Porte,forexample,originallya Jesuitand an editorof
severalliterary
journals,sustainedhimself
Spectaclesde
bypublishing
found
Paris, annual guidebooksbywhichconcert-and theatre-goers
out about the season's eventsin the city.Also typicalof Darnton's
failedphilosopheswas PierreRemondde Sainte-Albine
(1699-1778),a
as
censor
who
a
unexalted
and edited
had
job royal
quite
playwright
theGazettede France fortwenty-five
years.He wrotemostofthereportson musicand theatrein theMercurede France whilehe edited
the journal between 1749 and 175i, and probably in other years as
householdwent
well.That theson oftwodomesticsin an aristocratic
showsconsiderable
so farin musicalcommentary
socialfluidity
among
thiskindofconnoisseur.94
92 Darnton,"The High Enlightenment
and theLow-LifeofLiteraturein Pre-RevolutionaryFrance".
93 J.-B.
de l'AcademieRoyaledeMusique en
Dureyde Noinville,Histoiredu thdetre
France, 2nd edn.,2 vols. (Paris, 1757); M. Neufvillede Brunaubois,Lettreau sujetde
la rentrdede Mile. Le Maure d l'Opera (Brussels,1740).
94RobertDarnton kindlyprovidedme witha sketchof Remondde Saint-Albine
frompolicerecords.See Dictionnairedesjournalistes,ed. J. Sgard (Grenoble,1976),
p. 333; Mercurede France,Feb. 1750,p. 185;Histoiregene'ralede la pressefrancaise,
ed. C. Bellangeret al., 3 vols. (Paris, 1969), i, pp. 164, 189, 19 -3.
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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE
83
Even thoughwritersof almanacsand magazinereportsrelatedto
thegeneralpublicmorecloselythantheaestheticians,
theyhad their
ownprofessional
lifeas lessergensde lettresand approachedmusical
eventswithsuch considerations
in mind.The querelledes bouffons
was in largeparttheirownquarrel.Whilesomeofthepamphleteers
do
notseemto have had literary
careers,gensde lettressetup thedispute
and used it to fightbattleswitheach other,therebyearninga certain
resentment
fromthe rest of the public.95We hear as much from
Chevrier,a writerofgossipynovelsand essayswho
Francois-Antoine
likedto makeattackson his colleagues.Thoughviolentlyopposedto
theItalianstyle,he advisedhisreaderstotakethewholedisputewitha
grainof salt. "What resultsfromthesequarrels",he declared,"is a
confusionwhichtroublesourpleasures,and whichdoes harmto both
All in
parties,the[French]partisansas muchas theultramontane".96
all, he concluded,"thereare morecomplacentpeoplethan connoisseursin Paris".97
Nonethelessthe gens de lettreson the Italian side, Rousseau esfarmoreindependent
of
pecially,assumeda postureas connoisseurs
thepublicthanhad beenthecase in musicalaffairsbefore.The Grub
Street-like
writersprominent
in thedisputeacted muchas Darnton
has showntheydidlaterin thecentury,
pressingtheregimeat itsweak
pointsand raisingsharpnew publicissues.Abbe FrancoisRaguenet
had acquireda tasteforItalian musiconly as a side interestwhile
in Rome;he is said to haveretracted
architecture
studying
manyofhis
for
the
when
he
faced
virulent
arguments
style
foreign
oppositionupon
home.98Rousseau,however,usedtheaffairof 1752-4in the
returning
mannerof an intellectual
entrepreneur.
HavingbrokenintoParisian
lifebypeddlinga newmethodofmusicalnotation,he madehis
literary
name in Paris duringthe querellebecause he was themostextreme
polemicistof themall -"notre grandconnaisseur",as Freronput
it.99Rousseau approachedthat and later disputesas a professional
publicist,notas a gentlemanscholar,and brokewiththeidea thatthe
connoisseurshouldinform,
notmanipulate,thepublic.In so doinghe
began a powerfultraditionof intellectualactivismin musical life
whoselaterchaptersincludedtheGluck-Piccinni
disputeofthe I 770s,
overItalian opera duringthe I830s, and theWagnerian
controversy
movement
fromI850 onwards.
95For a collectionofpamphletsand identification
ofauthors,see Querelledes bouffons,ed. Launay.
96Chevrier,Observationssur le theatrefrancais,p. 72.
97Ibid., p. 74.
98Raguenet,A Comparisonbetweenthe French and Italian
Operas; "Francois
Raguenet",in Biographieuniverselle,
ancienneet moderne,xli,pp. 476-7.
99E. C. Freron,Lettressurla musiquefrancaiseen reponsed celle
deJ.-J.Rousseau
(Geneva, 1754),p. 17. See LesterCrocker,Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, 2 vols.(New York,
1968), i, pp. 140-3.
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84
PAST AND PRESENT
NUMBER 89
Certainof Rousseau'sideas on aestheticsforeshadow
a breakdown
in theunityof generaltaste.In his articleon "Gouit"in theSupplementto theEncyclopediehe arguedthatthereexistsa "generaltaste
upon whichall thosewell prepared(bien organises)will agree". He
definedsuch a public in an elitistmanneras only"ears sufficiently
instructed".'00In conceivingof an
trained,of people sufficiently
and tastefulpubliche foreshadowed
thedeespeciallyknowledgeable
ofthepublicwhat
voteesofBeethovenandWagner,whotoldmembers
etiquetteinpublichalls.
theyoughttolistento and askedfora stricter
between
we mightask how
the
differences
connoisseurs
Viewing
and
theycomparewiththeartpatronsin Italyduringtheseventeenth
centuriesthatFrancisHaskellhas studied.'10A fewsimieighteenth
laritiesare clear.Bothactedas earlykindsofagentsorcritics,capacities which would later fall into professionalhands, and exercised
betweenscholarsand thelargerpublic.
similarrolesas intermediaries
In what the VenetianFrancescoAlgarottidid forTiepolo, and La
despitetendenciesof conformism
Pouplinieredid for Rameau
we can see the enlightenedtaste
among theirlessercolleagues
possibleundertheold orderof patronage.
But theartpatron,bypossessinga gallery,couldcontrolpublictaste
in a way thatthemusicalconnoisseurcouldnot.Choosinga painting
was moreof a privatematterthanchoosinga concerto-far less an
theaccustomedpleasuresof
opera. In musicallifepatronageaffected
theupperclassesfarmoredirectly
thanin art;as a publicpursuitin an
age of privilege,musicaltaste had to come fromthe audienceas a
was oftenbotha patronand a writer
whole.The artpatron,moreover,
fromtheclassicaltraditionofcriticalemulation.
and drewauthority
Music and lettersdid not cohabitthateasily;in thisfieldaesthetic,
wenttheirseparateways,and history
practicaland patron'sinterests
that whileAlfew
common
assumptions.It is instructive
provided
garotticonceivedof his galleryas a museumof ancientsand modin his
workon Florentineprimitives,
ernsand did ground-breaking
fromany othermusical
Essai sur l'opera he said nothingdifferent
taste.102
essayist;he spokethelanguageofcontemporary
Musicalconnoisseurs
acted,then,onlyas thefirst
amongthepowerfulmany.The authority
theyheldand thewaysin whichtheyrelated
to the widermusicpublictellus a lot about thestateof mindwhich
governedmusicaltaste.Musical learningwas respectedbut not demanded;people assumedthat one could listenon a wide varietyof
100[Jean-JacquesRousseau], "Gout", in Supplementd l'encyclopedie,iii, p. 234.
philosopheto the musicalconSimilarlyGrimmappliedthe idea of the enlightened
noisseurin Lettrede M. Grimmsur Omphale(Paris, 1752), pp. 36-7.
101Haskell,Patronsand Painters;F. Haskell,RediscoveriesinArt:SomeAspectsof
Taste,Fashionsand Collectingin England and France (London, I976).
102 F. Algarotti,
Saggio sopra l'opera in musica (n.p., I755), trans.Chevalierde
Chastelleuxas Essai sur l'opera (Paris, I773).
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MUSICAL
TASTE
IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
FRANCE
85
levelsandwithverydifferent
were
purposes.Sincemusicalinstitutions
of
of
taste
a
of
was
all
resort,
places general
perjudgement
privilege
musicallife
sonsin theupperorders.Lackinga trueclassicaltradition,
no learnedelitedominating
had no intelligentsia,
publictaste.Ifliteraturehad a "republicof letters",musichad onlyconnaisseurs,often
thoughtpretendus.Withinthatcontext,however,manyconnoisseurs
led a seriousand artistically
musicallife.Even ifcomposers
discerning
could notacquireimmortality,
steppingintothepantheonof ancient
artists,we shouldnotdismisstheworldforwhichtheywroteas desirous onlyofbackgroundmusic.
The social upheavals which challengedthe preceptof privilege
acrossEuropeat theendoftheeighteenth
centuryremovedone ofthe
mostimportant
bases in the social structure
of musicaltaste.As the
learnedand
publicceased to be a united,unchallengeableauthority,
generalmusicaltastewenttheirseparateways.By I850 two setsof
alien musicalvalues vied withone another:reverenceforthe now
"classical" musicof Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven,and thirstfor
tunescalled "salon" or even "popular" music.
light,contemporary
Once the authority
of theclassicaltraditionhad been questionedby
Romanticmovements,
musicacquireda learnedtraditionequal in staand thefieldof
tureto thatof theotherarts,based in conservatoires
musicology.The moreseriousconnoisseurscame into theirown as
orchesspokesmenforthisnew tradition,
helpingto foundsymphony
tras,givingconcertsa stricter
notes,
etiquetteand learnedprogramme
and becomingmusiccriticswithpowerfulintellectualauthority.In
structureof tastesand values thereapplace of the polymorphous
peareda set of hierarchiesrankinglisteners,musicalforms,and the
purposesof musicalexperience.Musical lifenow lookedupwardsthe lengthof theseimposinghierarchies-and backwards- to its
classicalpast.
new-found
California State University,Long Beach
WilliamWeber
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