Catalogue du motet imprimé en France (1647–1789) (review)

Until fairly recently, the study of the music of the French baroque has focused primarily on the secular repertory, exemplified by the first catalogues of Lully’s tragédies lyriques and Couperin’s harpsi-chord music compiled during the first half of the twentieth century. Interest in the sacred music of that era has been slower to develop, only gaining steam in the 1980s, a decade marked by some impressive recordings of liturgical music by Charpentier and grands motets by both Lully and Lalande. It is only in the last ten years that important basic studies of the major genres and composers of French baroque liturgical and spiritual music have begun to appear: Lionel Sawkins’ thematic catalogue of the works of Michel-Richard de Lalande (A Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Michel-Richard de Lalande (1657–1726) [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005]); Cécile Davy-Rigaux’s Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers: Un art du chant grégorien sous le règne de Louis XIV (Paris: CNRS, 2004); and Thierry Favier’s Le Chant des muses chrétiennes: Cantiques spirituels et dévotion en France (1685–1715) (Paris: Société française de musicologie, 2008). To this we can add Nathalie Berton-Blivet’s Catalogue du motet imprimé en France (1647–1789), a significant contribution and a much-needed scholarly resource.

First, a matter of terminology. For some time scholars and performers have referred to two types of motets composed in France: the petit motet and the grand motet, following Pierre Perrin’s 1665 description of the music typically performed at the Chapelle royale during the King’s mass: “Ordinarily they sing 3 [motets], one grand, one petit— for the Elevation—and one Domine salvum fac regem” (p. xxiv; translation mine). Berton-Blivet assiduously avoids the term petit motet when referring to the works under consideration; they are simply “motets” composed for relatively small forces: from one to several solo voices, perhaps with one or more solo instruments (usually treble), or a small choir of one to four parts, or a combination of some or all of these, always accompanied by organ basse continue. Such restricted forces distinguish these pieces from what the author terms “motets à grand chœur”: that is, works represented by the compositions for choir, soloists, and divided orchestra composed by Lalande and his colleagues at the Chapelle royale, as well as similar works composed for larger collegiate churches and cathedrals—what previous scholars have termed grands motets.

The catalogue indexes and describes 1044 works by 74 different composers, either published in collections (representing 87 different monographs, anthologies, or series) or individually; collections of motets were far more numerous than individual publications. Each piece and collection is given a unique catalogue number, with appropriate cross-references. The entry for each composition lists the composer, publication date, and the forces required for performance, including possible alternate combinations indicated in the publication itself, either within the original heading to the work, or in a preface or avertissement to the collection; such alternate performance options, both in terms of voices and instruments, are quite common in this repertory, since composers were keen to make their publications attractive to the widest possible public. The key and length of the piece are noted, and all relevant source material is listed, including information about the text that is set. Berton-Blivet also includes information about the possible liturgical use of the motet; such information is sometimes indicated in the original publication, but in other cases can be divined through the liturgical use of the text.

As important as the catalogue itself is Berton-Blivet’s 98-page introduction, which positions the genre in terms of function and intended performers. One remarkable feature of this wide-ranging repertory is the extreme variety seen in the formal and stylistic elements of the music and in the performing forces...