America in the French Music of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Author(s): Lionel de La Laurencie and Frederick H. Martens

Source: The Musical Quarterly , Apr., 1921, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Apr., 1921), pp. 284-302
Published by: Oxford University Press

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The Musical Quarterly

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 AMERICA IN THE FRENCH MUSIC
OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND
EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES

By LIONEL DE LA LAURENCIE

T is a matter of common knowledge that the ties connecting

France and America are of long standing, and it is pleasant
to revert to the fact now that these ties have been strengthened
in consequence of the world catastrophe which has definitely
sealed the amity of two great nations meant to understand and
esteem each other.
We would like, in this article, to trace in the midst of the
various developments of seventeenth and eighteenth century
French music, the manner in which this music has taken advantag
of American elements. At times choreographic and dramatic
music borrows dances and subject-matter for compositions from
America, at others vocal and instrumental music employs American
airs, or airs said to be American. For one is obliged to admit
that the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in general, paid
but little attention to folk-lore of which, by-the-by, they were
almost altogether ignorant, and in which they showed but little
interest; though extremely avid of exotic affects and characteristi
melodies. Hence, while it occurs that French drama, in staging
scenes from America, endeavors to secure a kind of local color;
and while it surrounds the foreign characters whom it presents
with music intended to be representative of the characters in
question, this does not preclude but little exactitude being dis-
played in the matter of transcription. For instance, the Indian
savages are not pictured as they are, by the aid of their individual
music; but rather as they are supposed to be, by means of a vagu
melodic and rhythmic documentation inspired by the tales of
voyagers and missionaries. "In fact," M. Tiersot justly says,
"how were the Europeans of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries to discover the meaning of music that differed so greatly
from their own, when they themselves found it so difficult t
put up with the slightest alteration of their own musical habits;
regarding with astonishment the difference between Italian and
284

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America in the French Music of 17th and 18th Centuries 285

French music; the style of Rameau succeeding that of Lulli,

etc."'
The developments of American exotism in older French
music are lacking neither in objectivity nor in realism, and we
only wish to draw attention to the reservations to which we have
already alluded before progressing to a study of their principles.
* *

America appears f
the seventeenth cent
the frame-work of t
this form of diversion
means of action, and it was one of the best liked. There were
ethnographic and geographic ballets which introduced represen-
tatives of the various nations on the stage, and in this manner
aroused the curiosity of the spectators by the colorful play of
their costumes, and the picturesque singularity of their attitudes.
In the manner of costume the theorists of the ballet show
themselves decidedly exigent: "The costumes for the ballet cannot
be too handsome," declares Saint-Hubert; but he insists in par-
ticular, on the correctness of the costumes, on their being entirely
appropriate to the persons represented. "Therefore, one should
not so much dwell on the splendor of the dress as on its fitness, and
its resemblance to whatever is being represented."2
This regard for exactitude naturally showed itself when
recourse was had to local color. Hence Father Menestrier desig-
nates the costumes which the exotic personages introduced in the
ballets should wear, "the various nations who have their own
individual costume, which distinguish them. The Turk has his
vest and turban; the Moor, his black color; the American, a dress
of feathers."3
Hence, too, it is attired in the multicolored plumage of the
Indians of the North and of the South, that the Americans make
their appearance in the choreographic diversions of the seven-
teenth century.
Here a preliminary observation seems called for: the term
Indian does not always convey a precise ethnographic significa-
'Julien Tiersot. Notes d'Ethnographie Musicale. La Musique chez les peuples
indigenes de l'Amerique du Nord. Recueil de la Societe Internationale de Musique.
Jan.-Mars, 1910, p. 144.
2St.-Hubert. La maniere de composer et faire repvter les ballets, Paris, Fr.
Targa, 1641. In 8vo. pp. 17, 18.
'Menestrier. Des Ballets anciens et modernes, 1689, p. 143.

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986 The Musical Quarterly

tion since, in the literature of the court ballet, it is applied at

one time to Asiatics and at another to Americans. Therefore, in
order to avoid any misunderstanding, we will call Americans only
such personages as are thus expressly qualified as being inhabitants
of the New World.
The first seventeenth century ballet which alludes to Ameri-
cans is the Ballet de la Reine, danced on Jan. 16, 1609, and whose
first "entry," represented by the Enfans sans soucy, was entitled
"The Americans." Then, in 1620, in the Ballet de l'Amour de ce
Temps given that year, also by the Enfants sans soucy, a certain
"Topinambou," addresses the following verses to the ladies:
Belles, je suis Topinambou,
Venu d'une terre etrangere;
J'ai quitte mon pays pour vous,
Mes biens et ma famille entiere
Et, remply de serenite,
Je pasois en cette cite.

Beauties, my name is Topinambou,

I've come from a foreign, far countree;
I've left my natal land for you,
My goods and all my family;
And, with my soul now quite at rest,
I come to this town as your guest.

Strangely brought up, in the fashion of the time, Topinambo

continues in a gallant strain, declares he is ready "to play th
Cytherian game," and relies on his almost entire lack of costum
as a means of overcoming the resistance of his charmers.1
With the Grand Bal de la Douairiere de Billebahaut (The
Grand Ball of the Dowager of Billebahaut), whose costuming and
get-up were the work of Rene Bordier and l'ttoile, the part played
by the Americans has become more important. This ballet was
danced before the king, in the Louvre, during the month of
February, 1626, and the court took part in the "American
ballets," in which "Atabalipa, followed.by peoples and costumes
of America," figured.2
The personage in question is Atabalipa, king of Cuzco, in
Peru, whom a troupe of Americans bear into the hall at the
beginning of the first "entry." This individual, destined to achieve
a long career in French lyric literature, is purely a figment of
the imagination. The history of Peru knows only a certain
1Paul Lacroix. Ballets et Mascarades de cour, de Henri III A Louis XIV (1581-
1652). Geneva, 1868, v. II, p. 257.
2Rene Bordier. Grand Bal de la Douairiere de Billebahaut, Paris, 1626, p. 3.

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America in the French Music of 17th and 18th Centuries 287

Atahuallpa, a natural son of Huayna Capac who, after a struggle

of four years against his brother Huascar, ended by getting the
better of him and having himself proclaimed Inca in his place,
shortly before the arrival of the Spaniards.
The origin of Atabalipa is in all likelihood to be found in
the singular treatise of Adriano Banchieri, published in Venice,
in 1599, La Nobilita dell' Asino di Attabalippa dal Peru of which a
French translation was printed in Paris, in 1606: La Noblesse,
excellence et antianite de l'Asne. Traduit de l'italien du Seigneur
Attabalipa (Adriano Banchieri). Bordier was evidently acquainted
with these works, hence the Atabalipa of the Douairiere de
Billebahaut.1
And how do these "Americans" act? Let us see what Bordier
says: "Someone said," he tells us, "that these pleasant Americans
go clad only in feathers; yet as to that, do not regret it overmuch
for, since they go about in a frivolous dress, they easily forgive
the frivolity of others."2
Incidentally, they defend themselves against the accusation
of inconstancy. One among their number, M. Le Comte, recites
the following lines:
Beautez, qui me voyez paroistre a coeur ouvert,
Au rang des Inconstans et des plus infidelles,
Encore que mon corps soit de plumes couvert,
Mon amour n'a point d'aisles.

Beauties who see me here with heart laid bare,

'Mid the most faithless and inconstant known,
Though feathers covering my body I wear,
My constant love no wings has grown.

The entry of the Americans soon gives rise to the appearance

of a "Ballet of parrakeets." "The former," says Bordier, "have
no sooner turned the soles of their feet to the audience, before a
troop of parrakeets show their beaks at the gate of the theatre.
Covered with a plumage of green, these parrakeets thus display
their hopes of a more favorable reception." But, alas, they are
playing with fire, for the indigenous huntsmen of their country
enter on the scene, armed with the instruments they habitually
use. And then Bordier goes on to describe to us this "species of
music, whose sound amuses and whose noise astonishes them."
The unfortunate parrakeets know not whether to listen or to fly.
Some are caught in insidious nets which entangle them, the rest
'Henri Prunieres. Le Ballet de Cour en France, 1913, p. 128,
2Grand Bal de la Douairiere de Billebahaut, p. 4.

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288 The Musical Quarterly

cast themselves on the mirrors carried by their enemies, without

a suspicion "that the cruel hand of the huntsman will seize them."
This ballet of huntsmen and parrakeets is followed by one of
androgyns, individuals among whom the Count d'Haricourt plays
a part, and who as women, carry spindles; and as men, clubs, in
order to show that they are able to spin on the one hand, and
break heads on the other.
The music of the ballet of the Douairiere de Billebahaut has,
unfortunately, not been preserved. However, a curious design,
at the Louvre, published by M. Henry Prunieres, in his fine work
on the Ballet de la Cour en France, gives us an idea of the sort of
music which accompanied the entrance of the Americans. Behind
a solemn llama, adorned with trappings, advanced a native beating
gongs, and surrounded by a troop of bagpipe players. A certain
number of American airs were already known in France at this
time, since Father Mersenne, in his Harmonie universelle of 1636,
offers us four specimens.'
Of these four airs the first, a Chanson Canadoise (Canada
Song), whose title calls up memories of the first French explorers
in Canada, Denys and Jacques Cartier, as well as of Roberval
and Samuel Champlain, is certainly anything but a faithful
transcription. The remaining three, on the contrary, which we
give here, and which have already been reproduced by M. Tiersot
in the article above cited, seem to be more valid.
They follow herewith:
I II

Ca - ni -
@
de iou - ne He he he he
J
m

.. j d j JJJ j j j j
Heu heu - ra heu - ra oue -che

Alluding to Jean Leri's voyage,

these are songs of the Topinambou
first have reference to a yellow bir
them in making their bonnets, their
The words of the second song, extre
away into a sort of "epilepsy." As to
lament for the dead, a funeral dirge

IM. Mersenne. Harmonie universelle, Paris, 1636, Bk. S. Du Genres de la

Musique, II, p. 148.

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America in the French Music of 17th and 18th Centuries 289

three songs have a primitive and savage character, which testifies in

favor of an exactness of notation at least relative. Yet it is quite
evident that the musicians of the court ballets gave themselves
but slight concern with regard to making use of melodies of the
kind in presenting the Americans in their diversions. No doubt
they preferred to support Mersenne's singular opinion, according
to which "the diatonic being the most natural of all styles (modes),
those peoples or races who have no musicians among them, sing
diatonically."
Hence we may see, in the Ballet de M. le Cardinal de Richelieu,
danced in 1641, the music of whose entries has been preserved in
the valuable Philidor Collection at the Paris Conservatory, that
the Americans take part in the dance (Entry 26), to the following
theme:

i- e L J r u i r-- rr I r r rfrr Irrr

which, evidently, has nothing whatsoever American about it.'
With the masquerade of Les Plaisirs troubles, danced before the
king by the Duke of Guise, in the great hall of the Louvre, and
in which Lully collaborated (February 12, 1657), we find again
the Atabalipa whose strange and sonorous name was destined to
a long exploitation. In fact, Atabalipa, "king of Peru and of the
Indians," figures in the eighth entry of the second part of this
ma squerade.2
A few years later Lully was to bethink himself of the Amer-
icans of Les Plaisirs troubles, since with the aid of Benserade, he
introduced them once more in his ballet Flore, danced before the
king, February 13, 1669, under the caption of "Homage of the
Four Parts of the World to Madame"3 the four parts of the
world represented by four ladies who arrive to call on all the
nations whom they control to attend Flora's fete. Accordingly,
four quadrilles make their entrance: the Europeans, the Africans,
the Asiatics and the Americans (fifteenth and final entry), pre-
ceded by trumpets. When the four quadrilles are united on the
stage, they dance together to the music of the Canaries, and
"form the most pleasing figure which art has thus far invented."4

lPhilidor, Bk. 3, pp. 103 on.

2Victor Fournet. Les Contemporains de Moliere, p. 470. De Beauchamps, Loc.
cit. III, p. 143.
3Trans. Note: Madame, the sister of Charles II, of England, was the wife of
Monsieur, i. e., Gaston, Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV.
4Benserade. Ballet de Flore, 1669, pp. 34, 35.

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290 The Musical Quarterly

Incidentally, fauns take part in their gambols, and several among

them rattle tambourines, which provide a new battery of percus-
sives. The ceremony is accompanied with recitations by Europe
and Asia, to which Africa and America reply; and, of course, the
four continents proclaim that "the realm of the lilies is the first
in the universe."
The names of the dancers who took the parts of the Americans
in the fourth quadrille have come down to us; they are: a M.
L'Enfant, the Sieurs Chicanneau, Bonard and Arnald. Among
the musicians who played the Canaries, were five "American"
men and five "American" women, represented by the older
Huguenet, his younger brother, the older La Caisse and his
younger brother, Brouart, Marchand, la Fontaine, Charlot, and
the Martinots, father and son. Flutes and oboes mingled in the
symphony of sound, in the hands of some of the most skillful
instrumentalists of the king's household, such as Pietro Descos-
teaux, Philbert and Hotteterre. All of the music brought into
play during the dances of the races is, incidentally, Lully's own
beyond any manner of doubt.
The same absence of local color shows itself again in the
Temple de la Paix1 danced with the greatest success at Fontaine-
bleau during the autumn of 1685, and one of whose six entries is
dedicated to "the savages of America." Now these savages make
their appearance to the rondo in 6/4 time which follows:2

There is nothing specically American about the inconscient

There is nothing specifically American about the inconscient
rhythm of this number, and as to the chorus: "We have crossed
the vast breast of the wave," it is Lully pure and simple. The

'Trans. Note: The year 1685, which witnessed the production of the Temple de
la Paix is also that of the secret marriage of Louis XIV with Mme. de Maintenon, which
foreshadows the substitution of devotion for diversion at the French court. In "The
Art of Ballet," Perugini says with regard to Le Temple de la Paix that "represen
Fontainebleau, it was given by the corps de ballet of the newly founded Academie Ro
illustrious dancers and scions of the nobility all taking their share in the produc
The women dancers from the theatre, who mingled with the princesses and ladie
the Court, were termed femmes pantomimes in order to distinguish them from the
dilettanti. Among the amateurs one finds the name of the Princess de Conti; Duc
de Bourbon, such good old names as Mlle. de Blois, D'Armagnac, de Brienne, D'U
D'Estrees; on the theatrical side such artists as Hardouin, Thevenard, and the ama
Mlle. de Maupin-heroine of a hundred wild and questionable adventures-were am
the more illustrious of the singers; while Ballon, whom we have already named,
applause for the energy and vivacity of his dance, and Mlle. Subligny was equal
admired for the grace and dignity of hers."
2Le Temple de la Paix. Bibl. nat. du Cons. p. 143.

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America in the French Music of 17th and 18th Centuries 291

second "air of the Americans," sung by the ballet, to instrumental

accompaniment:

-')p r r i r' r' ~it r I

Dans ces li - eux il faut que tout res - sen- te

: fLes 1 f r' pi r1 p r- i J 11II

dou - ceurs d'u -ne pa -ix si char- man-te

is neither more nor less than a forlane, a dance of Friouli, which

Jean Baptiste Duval had described as far back as the month of
May, 1609, and which the Mercure galant of April, 1683, praised
to the skies.'
It seeks to deploy those effects of majestic pomp and congratu-
lation with regard to the sovereign which were so dear to the
heart of Lully, the superintendent of his royal music. Lully
makes an appeal to the Americans of New France to glorify
Louis XIV, nothing less; these Frenchmen of the trans-Atlantic
are to celebrate the pacific virtues of a monarch who, nevertheless,
loved war only too well; and they are to abandon themselves to
the idyllic joys which peace regained holds forth, "a peace so
charming," as the American chorus sings; while a coryphee
declares firmly that the great king is feared "from end to end of
the earth."2 In addition, among the dances which were per-
formed at the balls of Louis XIV, and which were collected in
1712 by the elder Philidor, ordinary of the king's music, there is
one La Jamaique (Jamaica), whose title had an American sug-
gestion. The theme follows:3

J icLrir r J 11
~Tr; Irirrri^ r f r I
Following Lully's example, Rameau did not neglect to introduce
the Americans on the stage. Only, it is no longer the Canadians
whom he bids dance, but the Americans of the South. Les Indes
galantes, of 1735,4 whose book was by Fuzelier, comprises,
'See J. Ecorcheville. La Forlane, S. I. M., April 1, 1914.
2Temple de la Paix, mss. of the Paris Conservatory, pp. 151, 1919.
aRecueil de Danses, par Philidor l'aine (1712). Bib. nat. See Fol. 3555, p. 50.
4Trans. Note: Combarieu calls Les Indes galantes, in 3 acts and a prologue, one
of the type of heroic ballet already traditional; "in it one meets with Hebe, Love,
Bellona, Osman-Pasha, the Incas of Peru, Savages, a dance of flowers, a Persian fete,
Boreus, Zephyrs, etc."

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292 The Musical Quarterly

beginning with its third performance, an entry, the

"Incas of Peru." The scene disclosed: "a Peruvian d
in an arid mountain, whose peak was crowned by th
volcano, formed of calcined rocks, and covered with
as they innocently said at that time, in order to
deployment of local color, and the momentary aba
the sempiternal mythological and fairy landscape,
volcano seemed "even more true to life than a fai
quite as well fitted to give rise to chromatic music o
phonic order!" Hence the auditors might be at r
chromatic factor would not be deprived of its rig
trance of the Incas introduced Peruvians in pictures
on the stage; but the costumes are picturesque along
arbitrary lines of eighteenth century taste. Among
up the group we might mention: Phani, Palla, H
was also a French officer, Damon, and a Spanish of
both of them very much taken with the lovely Z
not dwell upon the celebrated scene of the adoration
with its famed chorus "Brilliant orb"; nor will we g
as regards "the earthquake," to the uproar of the vo
is adduced as a "sensational" example of Rameau's a
painter.2
We will call attention here, above all, to the famous "Air of
the Savages" introduced by Rameau in his opera-ballet in March,
1736. This air has quite a history. In 1725, at the time that he
was working at the spectacles of the Foire St. Germain, the
musician had composed a song and a dance intended for the
exhibition of the Carib savages who had been brought to Paris.
It is this very "Air of the Savages" which appears in the collection
of clavecin pieces published between 1727 and 1731 (Nouvelles
Suites de pieces de clavessin), and which Rameau replaced in the
Indes galantes. Its energetic, decided theme, as Rameau sees it,
takes on a character of the most concise stylization, and is com-
pactly developed in odd rhythmic gestures and beats. Yet it

was in no wise inspired by folk-lore, and its well-defined tonality

1Livret des Indes galantes-Les Incas de Perou, 2? Entree.
2Indes galantes (Ed. Durand), p. 206. Cf. Sentiments d'un harmophile, p. 71.

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America in the French Music of 17th and 18th Centuries 293

and rhythmic firmness lead us to regard it without question as

the own musical child of the composer of Dardanus. Nevertheless,
Rameau took an interest in exotic music; in 1757, in the intro-
duction of his Nouvelles reflexions sur le principe sonore, he assures
us that he has seen all that Father Amiot of the Company of
Jesus, for the space of sixteen years a missionary at Pekin, had
found it possible to collect regarding Chinese music; and his
heroic ballet of the Paladins, composed not long after, and first
performed on Feb. 12, 1760, includes a "Chinese Air." At the
same time, it was impossible that he should have known, in 1725,
the particulars set down by the Jesuit Father de Charlevoix, in
his histories of Santo Domingo and Paraguay, nor the same
Jesuit father's Histoire de la Nouvelle France, all of them works,
in the last analysis, decidedly deficient in information of a musical
nature. On the other hand, he would have been able to read the
Histoire de la Conquete du Mexique, by Don Antonio de Solis, of
which a French translation appeared in 1691. Yet aside from
some curious details regarding the dances of the Aztecs, and which
describe a somewhat clumsy and elementary choreography which
would adapt itself easily enough to the "Air of the Savages,"
Solis' work contains no more than a few lines devoted to Mexican
music. He mentions "the flute players, and those who played
certain conch-shells which produced a species of concerted music."'
It therefore follows that it must, in all likelihood, be conceded
that the "Air of the Savages" sprang fully armed and quivering
with barbaric energy from the head of Rameau. An anecdote
ascribes a most amusing origin to this air. The danseuse Salle,
taking a pin, pricked a number of holes in a sheet of music-paper
which Rameau had given her, after which the latter gave each
hole, representing a note, its rhythmic value, and thus the "Air
of the Savages" came into being.2 However, the famous melody,
'Loc. cit., pp. 289, 290. Solis speaks of wooden cymbals, varying in size and so-
nority, and not without "some sort of consonance." With regard to the dances of the
Indians, with head-dresses of feathers and carrying feather scarves in their hands, see
the section entitled: "The Great Temple of Mexico," p. 273.
Trans. Note: Lucien Biart, in his "The Aztecs, Their History, Manners and Cus-
toms" (trans. from the French by J. L. Garner, Chicago, 1887), mentions the huehuetle,
"a wooden cylinder, three feet high, carved and ornamented with paintings, its top
covered with the skin of a deer, which could be stretched or loosened at will, according
as the players wished to produce deep or rumbling sounds. This drum was played by
striking the head with the fingers, which required a certain amount of skill." The
teponastle, another drum, made in varying sizes, "still in use in some towns . . . has
something melancholy in its tones; and is audible at a great distance." A substitute
for the European castanet was the axacaxtli, "a sort of gourd pierced with holes, which
was filled with small stones." It constituted an enormous rattle, and was shaken in
time with the playing of the other instruments.
2Anecdote reported by M. Arthur Pougin, in the introduction to the Indes galantes
in the Michaelis edition.

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 294 The Musical Quarterly

which in the Indes galantes accompanies the duo Fonts

achieved a decided success, in spite of the satires w
Almanach du Diable (The Devil's Almanack) direc
Rameau in 1737. Though Desfontaines raged against
of the Indes galantes, and though he declared that "
no part at all in it"; though he said of the score: "Noth
be more rough and uneven, nothing less polished; it
which one cannot walk without stumbling,"' other crit
themselves to be seduced by its exotic character, and t
Contre (For and Against), came to the conclusion that
"was genuinely Indian."2 Rameau himself showed th
well satisfied with his "Air of the Savages," of 1725, in
of October 25, 1727 to Houdard de la Motte. It proves h
he thought of this dance, when he says: "It rests entire
to come and hear how I have characterized the song an
the savages who appeared at the Theatre Italien a year
"The Air of the Savages" had a long life and many i
Not alone did Balbastro transfer it to the organ, at t
spirituel, in 1755; but one also finds an arrangement of
transverse flutes, violins or violas in the second Recue
petits airs, etc., du flutiste, by Michel Blavet. On the o
the violinists, the younger Abbe and Tarade, supplie
variations, and Gardel employs it in his first ballet:
navigateur ou le pouvoir de l'amour (July 25, 1785).
Dalayrac made use of the "Air of the Savages" in the p
his comic opera Azgmia ou les Sauvages, words by L
siere, given aux Italiens on May 2, 1787.3 The Mercu
day regards this interpolation in the mimic and des
symphony with which the work opens, as an act of
Rameau's greatness.
In the meantime, instrumental music furnished som
mens of American airs. The literature of the bass v
us with the following example, which we borrow fr
collection which leans largely on pieces by Marais senio
Marais, Forqueray, de Caix and others. This piece is entitled
L'Ameriquaine:4

Big IL .. 'f - -..-- r P. r

'Observations sur les ecrits modernes, II, p. 238.
2Le Pour et le Contre, VII, p. 22.
aThe Air des Sauvages appears in the bass of the Allegro moderato of the Prologu
4Recueil de pieces de violle avec la Basse tire des meilleurs auteurs. Bib. nat. See
F. 6296, pp. 144, 145.

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America in the French Music of 17th and 18th Centuries 295

A little further on we find the succeeding passage, whose repeated

figurations with a rhythm of J J or J are not without a

certain analogy to those frequently encountered in Indian melodies:

P-f^ iji"! ICr -V .V r P,

$#Z" 21:rr Frnli J q,r F
We might mention in particular, the "Fourth Harv
the Iroquois" (Baker), various numbers of the Wa-
(Miss Fletcher), etc.'
The famous violinist J. P. Guignon, published ab
his Nouvelles Variations de divers airs et les Folies
which we meet with an "American Air,"

F- frrt r cri Ir lrrr ...r

which is carried out in several variations, of which t
in double-stops, and the third secures a species of bag
with a pedal-point on the tonic D, so that we have
tune disguised in gallant shepherd style. Among v
find other American remembrances; for instance one
in two collections2 is called Le Mississipi.

* *

It is at this point
comic opera in tw
Huron was perfor
on August 20, 176
does not bear witn
confines itself to
libretto inspired
which appeared in
'J. Tiersot. Loc. cit. p. 159 and 181.
2Recueil de contredanses transposees pour la vielle. Bib. nat., F. 3643, p. 67 and
Recueil manuscrit No. 2547. Bib. de l'Arsenal, p. 235.
3Trans. Note: According to David Friedrich Strauss ("Voltaire," Leipsic, 1872),
l'Ingnu, "the child of nature," is the best of Voltaire's romances, since, among the
more extended tales, it is only one whose characters and incidents awaken genuine
human sympathy and interest. Aside from being a work that awakens a real emotional
reaction, it offers an admirable picture of the mores of the later half of the age of Louis
XIV, in which time it plays.

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296 The Musical Quarterly

In the shape of a young Huron, induced by his

visit Europe, Voltaire and, following him, Marmon
voted themselves to a study of the ingenuous mind
suddenly brought into contact with our pretended
which gives rise to a number of adventures which, i
of Grimm, throw into relief the good sense of the "
ture," a good sense most alarming to his devout Aunt
Le Huron scored a great success, thanks to Gret
The latter tells in his Essais how, with the aid of Ma
composed his comic opera in six months' time. He
fear he suffered with regard to the subject-matter
fear which vanished with its first performance, diss
success achieved by the charming Huron Caillot, w
dress," sang the air: "In which canton is Huron-l
delightfully, and by Mme. Larsette, entrusted wit
Mlle. St. Yves. Still, we repeat, le Huron is no more t
with a psychological trend, and which we only ci
leading figure is an American.
We have now reached the moment when Ameri
is about to write one of its most glorious pages, that
pendence of the United States. It is a matter of kn
the revolutionary movement, though general in c
its focus in the province of Massachusetts, and abo
city of Boston, which ever since the December of 1773
against the ill-omened fiscal policy of Great Brita
lamation of the Independence of the United States
on July 4, 1776, was destined to find its repercussio
music. The Mercure of January, 1780, announced som
sements for clavecin or forte-piano, containing t
Boston," and the victory gained in a naval combat
over a group of privateers. These Divertissements we
to the Duke of Angoul6me, Grand Prior of Franc
Corrette, who was the organist of the prince in quest
The title "Echoes of Boston" is characteristic. The Diver-
tissement is one written in three parts, of which the slow mov
ment in G major, an Andante in 3/8 time, is written in th
dominant tonality, and is called "The Murmur of Waters
The beginning of the initial Allegro follows:

I f'J' '1F
J Iii-ITrEi
- riir,r'H-
1Correspondance littgraire, vol. III, p. 409.
WMercure, Jan. 1780, p. 190.

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America in the French Music of 17th and 18th Centuries 297

The "Echoes of Boston" ends with a rapid movement in 6/8

time, which has been baptized: "The Flight of the English."
As to the naval battle which accompanies the Divertissement,
it has been developed in accordance with the esthetic laws of the
picturesque and descriptive which govern its type, and is inspired
by events transpiring along the American coast-line. Corette
even invents a sign to indicate how the "cannon-shots" are to
be executed on the keyboard. We quote his description, though
it is rather naive: "Strike all the bass keys with the palm of
the hand, to imitate the firing of the cannon-twenty-four
pounders."
And while our instrumental music draws inspiration from the
events taking place on the other side of the ocean, our dramatic
music, for its part, celebrates the nation which is about to gain
its liberty.
On November 18, 1779, Gardel presented at the Opera a
three-act ballet, Mirsa, whose action takes place in America.
Mirsa scored a brilliant success, and Castil-Blaze, followed by
Choquet' sees in this number an occasional piece: "they were
fighting in America," writes Castil-Blaze, "we were the allies
of the insurgents commanded by Washington; and the English
were being defeated in every battle." Theodore de Lajarte
has had no trouble in proving that the interpretation of Mirsa
given by Castil-Blaze, does not in any way correspond with the
facts. The long description of the ballet given in the Mercure
of November, 1779, and a study of the text-book of Mirsa prove
that nowhere is there any question of battles, "in which the
English succumb." The ballet develops, however, a most sym-
pathetic Franco-American atmosphere. It is a little pantomimic
drama, whose plot does not lack variety, despite its simple nature,
nor even emotion. Mirsa is the daughter of Mondor, governor
of an American isle. She loves the handsome French colonel,
Lindor; but their loves are troubled by the rivalry of a pirate.
In the first act, so the Mercure reports, one laughs; in the second,
one experiences lively emotion; in the third, "one is in turn divided
between admiration and joy."
The third act is filled with the festivities celebrating the
union of Mirsa and Lindor. These festivities take place on a
vast esplanade lying in front of one of the terraces of Mondor's
garden, and in the presence of the entire family, "surrounded by a
crowd of Americans, Creoles and Negroes."
ICastil-Blaze. Thedtres lyriques de Paris, I, pp. 402, 403. G. Choquet. Histoire
de la musique dramatique en France, p. 362.

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298 The Musical Quarterly

First of all we have a brilliant military parad

regiment manoeuvres and defiles beneath its colon
a corps of Americans then arrives to draw up facing
regiment. The governor then has both detachment
a sham battle, and drums beat the assembly, to the
"Boston March" as well, whose first measure we quot

After these military exercises, Mondor proceeds

riage of his daughter and Lindor, a warrior nuptial,
the sound of brass instruments. American officers and American
ladies begin to dance, and to borrow the expression of the Mercure,
"celebrate the festivities with the dances in vogue in their
country."
The military parade was well conducted by M. Faydieu,
sergeant in the regiment of the Guards. Two airs which above
all seem to be connected with America, and in particular with the
part played by the Chevalier d'Estaign in the War of Indepen-
dence (October, 1781), are preserved in a collection of airs in the
National Library, and bear the titles: La Destain and Le Retour
Destain ("d'Estaign's Return").2
In the lyric tragedy Pizarre, or the Conquest of Peru, per-
formed for the first time at the Royal Academy of Music on May
3, 1785, we see reappear Atabalipa, king of Peru, already laid
under contribution on various occasions by French music. The
scene is laid in Peru. Candeille had written the music of this
opera, whose text was by Duplessis, and which had but a medioc
success, in spite of a brilliant cast: Lais taking the part of Pizarr
and the Inca Atabalipa, now Atabaliba, being played by Chero
Mlle. Gavaudan the younger sang the role of Alzire, while
Guimard and Vestris danced.
In Act one we once more meet with the scene of the adoration
of the sun which Rameau had already treated musically. The
stage represents the frontal of the temple of the sun, whose ruins
still exist in Cuzco, and without delay exotic effects are exploited.
A march for the entry of Atabaliba, and his suite resounds: "this
march," the book explains, "begins very softly, and increases
gradually in power; there are negroes with kettledrums and others
with small drums after the fashion of the country."
'Mirsa. Act III, No. 1.
2Bib. nat. See F. 4865, fos. 55 and 57.

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America in the French Music of 17th and 18th Centuries 299

This march is dominated by a commonplace melody played

by the piccolo, local color being supplied only by the instrumen-
tation. Then the temple doors open and the high priest issues
forth, followed by the young virgins dedicated to the worship of
the sun. Now comes a new march of a more pronouncedly exotic
character than its predecessor, with abrupt calls:

A 1 NJ11i I nI _ J I,
The high priest then sings the air: "Beneficent divinity,"
which is taken up by a five-part chorus; then follows an entry,
Allegro molto, whose minor character is adorned with a langourous
theme, embellished by ornamental connecting-links, and sup-
ported by the orchestral percussives.
Following this, the Peruvians dance, heavily, to a movement
in 6/8 time, where the repeated oscillation on a strong accent does
not fail to recall the insistence of accent shown in the first part
of the "Dance for the Invocation of the Spirit," collected by
Doctor Boas.1 Yet here the rhythmic stress repeats a fourth
seven times in succession, while in the dance of the Peruvians,
the recurring stress goes on while broadening out from a fourth
to a sixth. At the same time this far-away resemblance is
lessened by the fact that the "Dance for the Invocation of the
Spirit" is a dance of Northern America.
According to the Mercure, the action of the piece gave rise
to criticisms which were softened and equalized by its spectacular
pomp and the variety of its tableaux, "in accordance with the
habits and the costumes of the peoples represented on the stage."2
The march of the Inca gave pleasure, and it was admitted that
his character had been "well expressed"; also, the dance airs
seemed to be good of their kind; but in general-and we cannot
help but agree with this opinion-the music was accused of lacking
originality.3
Atabalipa makes a fresh appearance in Mehul's Cora, un-
successfully given at the Opera on February 11, 1791. Only, on
this occasion the name of the Peruvian sovereign was shortened
by eliding the syllable, and he became quite simply Atalipa.4
Once more we meet with him in the temple of the sun and the
Peruvian buildings which form the stage-setting for the first
1J. Tiersot. Loc. cit., p. 165.
2Mercure, May 14, 1785, p. 82.
WMercure, May 21, 1785, p. 136.
'Lais played the part of Atalipa, and Quito was the scene of action.

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300 The Musical Quarterly

act; and again we witness the festival of the god of light, and
Cora, the heroine of the piece, is proclaimed the chosen of the
godhead. She must take an oath of fidelity to the sun; but the
unfortunate girl loves the Spaniard Alonzo, which fact permits
the development of tragic permutations, in the course of which
appears a certain Hascar, who recalls the Huascar of the Indes
galantes.
Of Mehul's music we will cite the invocation of the priests
of the sun (Act III):

0-+ i IF r I l? ? r r r i"4 ir
So . lelll. Dieu puls - sant. et ter - r . blel

in which the composer has evidently tried only to s

effect, without giving a single thought to local colo
confides his Invocation to the Sun, "Brilliant orb," t
ing theme written in sixths, and seems to conform
given by the Jesuit Father de las Casas, in the sixt
of the ceremonial of the sun worship, in which this
the Inca king leading the chant in honor of the sun
authority-a song which continues to ascend in degr
ure, just as the planet itself rises above the hori
ascentional character is exactly that given by Ram
vocation.
Nor are we done, as yet, with the Incas and the ceremonials
of their cult. The publication, in 1788, of Bernadin de Saint-
Pierre's immortal eclogue Paul et Virginie, as a natural conse-
quence focusses the attention of dramatic composers on another
aspect of American music, on American negro music. All authors
agree in recognizing that the negro has remarkable musical ap-
titudes. The negroes of Louisiana speak a kind of French jargon
at once childish and touching, a dialect associated with melodies
whose tenderness and emotional depth cannot be denied. Between
the years 1790 and 1795 negro airs begin to make their appearance
in musical compositions, and we see Muzio Clementi interpolate
in Sonata I of his Op. xxIx a charming and caressing Arietta
alla negra, designating it Andante innocento, a descriptive phrase
which underlines its childlike ingenuousness of character.2

" _\nrr ....\^\rn

'De las antiguas gentes del Peru (Concerning the Ancient
el padre F. B. de Las Casas. Reprinted, Madrid, 189g, pp. 9
2This theme is then developed in the form of variations.

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America in the French Music of 17th and 18th Centuries 301

In writing his Paul et Virginie, whose first performance took

place at the Comedie italienne on January 15, 1791, and whose
libretto follows-at some distance-Bernadin de Saint-Pierre's
romance, Rodolphe Kreutzer has not failed to introduce ne
airs in his score. There is in Scene 1, Act I, a little song sun
by Virginie to Paul, a song which the negro Dominique has tau
her:

p pXI- p N p I r pI -I
Ma- zo e sl qult-ter ca - se

Mol per - dit bon-heur a mol a mi res -ter

And in Scene 6 of the same Act, there is a chorus: Pe

bien doux, attendez-nous ("Little whites so kind, wait f

P r p r i1? I r Pr T r -vii b
Pe - tits Blancs bien doux at-ten - dez nous

Ih r- i' r- i-r i?r-- I

Vous ne pas ris - quer da -van - ta - ge

The negroes construct a litter of boughs on which they carry

Virginie while they sing:

J to I 1 - v
Nous por - ter toi chez tes pa - rents.

Sur le pe- tit lit de feuil - la - ge

When three years later, the subject of Paul et Virginie was a

taken up, this time by Lesueur, aided by Dubreuil with re
to the text, Lesueur does not seem to have made the effort dis-
played by his predecessor to give his tunes a folk-lore impress.'
Once again we behold the adoration of the sun, which is
now introduced, however, in the guise of a hors d'oeuvre. And this
point did not escape the attention of the contemporary press.
"The composer of Paul et Virginie," says the Journal de Paris
on Jan. 17, 1794, "has had recourse to an episode foreign to his
story in order to extend the latter, one which in our opinion is
lPaul et Virginie, Comedy in Three Acts, was presented at the Thedtre de la rue
Feydeau, the 25th Nivoise of the Year II.

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302 The Musical Quarterly

hurtful to the principle end in view." The "Indian Savages" sing

a hymn, noble in character, to the rising sun, with great cries of
appeal carried along on a single note. In the second act there is
also a chorus: "To the god of light," enwrapped with an
atmosphere of sonority, where the pizzicati of the strings sparkle
while flutes sing:

1|?- f-r tprf r 1 p r |- r In r -

Au Dieu de la lu - mie-re, en tous lieux, en tous temps

Lesueur's Paul et Virginie is the last lyric work of the

eighteenth century whose scene of action is laid in America.
Thus, as we have said at the beginning of our article, the older
music of France has borrowed actually but little from American
folk-lore, and it has hardly brought local color into play except
through the medium of the spectacular. Notwithstanding, it
seems of interest to recall that four of the greatest of French
musicians, Lully, Rameau, Mehul and Lesueur, have treated
American subjects, and have taken pains to characterize the
indigenes of America by means of typical themes or an appro-
priate instrumentation.

(Translated by Frederick H. Martens)

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