art.-weber. learned and general musical taste in xviii century france

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The Past and Present Society

Learned and General Musical Taste in Eighteenth-Century FranceAuthor(s): William WeberSource: Past & Present, No. 89 (Nov., 1980), pp. 58-85Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society

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LEARNED AND GENERAL MUSICAL TASTEIN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE*THE HISTORY OF CONNOISSEURS IS THE HISTORY OF HOW SOCIETIEShavevalued earningn ettersndthe rts.The connoisseur,oldingunusualknowledgensome rea of ulture,might avebeen writer,scholar, patron,n amateur, rsimplyomeone espectedor rtisticjudgement. embers f theupper ocialorders ave onghad a sense,a dispositions ingraineds their ablemanners,boutwhat onnois-seurs rpeople ngeneral nderstoodboutthe rts, nd how mport-antlearningmight eem.Let us call "general"taste heassumptionthat ertain ooks, aintings,r works fmusic idnotrequire pecialknowledgeo be understood;learned" s accordinglyheopposite.Historians eed not flinch t talking bout thegeneralpublicsince,eventhoughts sizeandcompositionmaybe onlyroughly etermin-able, ocieties avemade bundantlylearwhatwasregardedithersesoteric raccessible.On theone hand theplays fShakespearewereconsideredartofgeneral aste ntheir ime, s were he ymphoniesofHaydn ndtheoperas fHandel. On the ther andworks asedonancientmodelsfor xample,hepoems fMilton) ractuallyntendedfor tudy suchas thefugues fJ.S. Bach) werethoughto be ap-proachable nly hrough learned aste.Althoughomewritingsfgreat ntiquity ereverywidely nown,getended odemand earn-ing.One effect fthis, fcourse,was thatthepassageof time ftenchanged he tatus f a work romgeneral" o"learned".Powerwaspresentnbothmanners f taste.Knowledges power;popularitys power.The balance struck etween hem, complex,often ontradictory,ocialand ntellectualystem,as beenone ofthemost fundamentalspectsof any culture.These assumptions, ygoverning hat has goneon in the ifeof thearts,havecontributedmuch o the ensibilityf achsociety, elping efinehe diosyncraticwaysbywhichpeoplehaveshapedtheir astes ndgoneabout theircultural usiness.Learninghas thus had its ownsocialdistinctions,eparatefromthose f ocial lasses.Perspectivesf mass ociety aveobscuredhisquestion. ecausethe ermpopular ulture" asoften eenused am-biguously both o mean ower-classulturendpopularitynvari-* This paperwas writtenwith the support f the National Endowment ortheHumanities,during Fellowship n Residence at theUniversityf Virginia, ndcompletedwithaid frommy university. am grateful orcomments n an earlierversionpresentedo a seminar n eighteenth-centuryperaorganizedbyProfessorMilosVelimirovic,nd tohistory epartmenteminars t theUniversityfVirginiaand at theJohnsHopkinsUniversity.

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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCEous social classes historians aveforgottenhattheupperordershave alwayshad their wngeneral ulture. ew eighteenth-centurygentlemenr gentlewomen ere earned n all thearts; n trustingthemselvesnareasofrelativegnorance,heyubscribedothebroad-estculturalproclivitiesf their eers.Undeniablywealth nd socialposition erenecessaryoget he ulturalxposuressentialogeneraltaste, r theknowledge eededfor earned aste, nd patronage e-quiredparticularlyreat conomic esources. ut thedistinctione-tween he twokinds ftaste, s betweenonnoisseursndthepublic,has beenquiteindependentfbourgeois,ristocratic,r anyotherclass dentities.1It meantsomething erydifferento be a connoisseur fmusicratherhanof etters rpaintingneighteenth-centuryrance.Musi-cal aficionadosid nothave as powerful learned r"high"traditionas did their olleagues n the other rts. The reasonswhythis wasso sprangfrom ssumptionshatweretakenforgranted, arely x-pressed,ndprobably ften otunderstood.he problemwasEuro-pean in scope,ofcourse, nd wewillthereforexamine tfirst romthat erspectiveeforeookingt ts haracternFrance.2We will ook1Methodologicalmodelsforthisstudy ncludeRobertDarnton,"The High En-lightenmentnd theLow-Life fLiteraturenPre-Revolutionaryrance",Past andPresent, o. 51 (May 197 ), pp. 81- I5;Robert arnton, Reading,WritingndPub-lishingnEighteenth-Centuryrance: A Case Study ntheSociology fLiterature",inFelixGilbert ndStephenR. Graubard eds.),Historical tudiesToday NewYork,1971),pp. 238-80;Genevieve olleme tal.,Livre et ociete ans a France duXVIIIIsiecle,2 vols. Paris, 1965-70);FrancisHaskell,Patrons ndPainters:A Study n theRelations between talian Art and Society n theAge of theBaroque (New York,1963); HenriLagrave,Le thdetretlepublicc Parisde I7I5 d I750 (Paris, 1972);JohnLough,Paris TheatreAudiences n theSeventeenthndEighteenth enturies(London,1957); HarrisonWhite ndCynthiaWhite,Canvasesand Careers: nstitu-tionalChange n theFrenchPaintingWorldNewYork,1965).2 Discussion fFrenchmusic nthe eventeenthndeighteenthenturies as hadastrongocialcomponent, ostmportantlyntheworks fJamesR.Anthony, orbertDufourcq,RobertM. Isherwood,nd contributorso the ournalRecherches ur amusique rancaise lassiqueau XVIIIe siecle.Major studies ncludeJ.R. Anthony'ssociallyperceptive renchBaroque MusicfromBeaujoyeulxtoRameau, 2nd edn.(New York, 1978); N. Dufourcq,Notes et referencesour servir une histoire eMichel-Richardelalande (Paris,1957); N. Dufourcq, a musique la courde LouisXIV etde Louis XV d'apres esmemoires eSourches tLuynes Paris, 1970); Mar-celleBenoit,Versailles t esmusiciens u roi, 66I-I733 (Paris, 1971); R. M. Isher-wood,Music in Service ftheKing:France n the eventeenth enturyIthaca,N.Y.,1973); MichelBrenet pseud.Marie Bobillier], es concerts nFrance sous l'ancienregimeParis, 1900); TheodoreLajarte,Bibliothequemusicale u thdetree l'opera:cataloguehistorique, hronologique,necdotique,2 vols. (Paris, 1878); BarryS.Brook,La symphoniefrancaiseans a secondemoitie u XVIII esiecle,3 vols. Paris,1962); L. La Laurencie,Le gotn-musicalnFrance (Paris, 1905); Louis Striffling,Esquisse d'une histoire u gozt musical en France au XVIIIe siecle Paris, 1912);Georges nyders, e goztmusical nFranceauxXVlleetXVIIIesiecles Paris,1968).The archival ources nthe tatemusical nstitutionsredivided etweenheArchivesnationaleshereafter .N.) andtheBibliotheque el'Opera;theholdingsf heformerare catalogued n B. Labat-Poussin,Archives u thdetre ationalde l'opera (Paris,1977).

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into the period between about 1700 and the I770S, since duringthelastquarter f thecenturyheold socialassumptionseganto breakdown. n 1770JohnHawkins,England'sfirst laim to a musichis-torian, omplainedhat:

Nothingnmusic s estimable hat s notnew.No music olerable,whichhas beenheardbefore. n answer owhich tmaybesaid,that hiskind freasoningsneverappliedto other ntellectual ratifications;orno man was everyet o weak as toobject othe works fVirgil rRaphael,that heonewrote eventeen undred,rthattheother ainted 50 years go.3A Parisianmagazine orrespondent adethesamepoint hreeyearslater, sking: Why s musicmore ubject han theother rtsto thepower fmode, ndwhy retheprejudicesegarding usic ndpaint-ingso differenthatpeople lwayspreferheoldestpainting ut thenewestmusic?".4Whyndeed,we must sk, nourera ofrigidly is-toricistmusic-making?The answer o their ueries, ut n itssimplesterms,was thatbytraditionmusichad been een s themost ulgar fthe rts inboththetemporal nd the moral ense of theword.Music couldnot belearned ecauseultimatelythad nohistory.thad nohistoryecause,savefor few mallfragments,obodyof musical coreshad comedownfromncientGreece rRome, nd scholars id notuncover ewones nthe ighteenthenturys they id ancient aintings.incetheRenaissance, heorists ad tried o reconstructhe musicof the an-cients, utthat emained matter f cademic uesswork,eaving n-resolved ven obasica questionswhetherr not hemusichad morethan ne ine.5 acking corpus f lassicalworks,musical ifehad nohistoricalhainofworks one n mitatio;acking Virgil,music ouldhavenoPetrarch,nd nocomposersevered own hroughhe gesaswereDanteandMichelangelo.twasnotconventionalohonour hemusic f thepast,but tospurnt.6Music hereforeemainedmarginalohigherearning. ytradition,3 JohnHawkins,An Accountofthe nstitutionnd Progress ftheAcademy fAncientMusic (London, 770), p. 13.4Journaldemusique ar unesocietedesamateurs, (1773), no. 6, p. IO.5See Francoisde Chateauneuf, ialoguesur a musiquedesanciens Paris,1709),PP. 34-9,94-5;JacquesBonnet,Histoire e lamusique t de seseffets,ndedn., vols.(Amsterdam,715-25), i, p. 53; [Jean-Jacques ousseau],"Musique", in Encyclo-pedie ou dictionnaire aisonnedes sciences, es arts et des metiers, 7 vols. Paris,1751-65),x,pp. 899-902; [Joseph e La Porte ed.)],Observations ur a litteraturemoderne, vols. Paris, 1749-50), i, p. 224; [P.-F.Guyot-Desfontainesed.)],Obser-vation ur esecritsmodernes,4vols. Paris,1735-43), i,pp.238-9. dentificationfauthors f thearticlesntheEncyclopedies according o A. R. Oliver,TheEncyclo-pedists s Critics fMusic (NewYork, 947), appendixA,pp. I7 -88.6 One ofthetime-honouredlursagainstthemusicofthepast is that ofJoannesTinctorisn 477,discountingnywork verforty ears ld as a worthwhilebject fstudy:Joannes inctoris, iber de artecontrapuncti,rans.Albert eayas The ArtofCounterpointAmer. nst.Musicology,Musicological tudies ndDocuments, o. 5,Rome,196 ), p. 14.

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and other renchmenoanexceptionalxtent itwasextensivelye-writtennd acted s a fixturefan institutionatherhan s a modelelevated bove criticismnd studiednthe chools.10Musicdid notholdpower nhigher earning,moreover,ecause twielded xtraordinaryower neverydayife.Music oomed arge ntherites ndpleasures f thecourt, he tavern nd thehome;peopledanced,drank ndcourted oit,and in the ate seventeenthenturyoperasand concerts imply ut thesefunctions n a grander cale.Music eemed ooearthyobea learned rt.AsHawkins emarked,ishistoryfmusicwas ntendedtoreprobatehevulgarnotion hat ts[music's] ltimatend smerelyo excitemirth".11venifplays lsohad a bawdy radition,hey ffered uch essspectacle especiallylessdance than peraanddid notplay s large role n thehome sinstrumental usic.Because musicwas a general ocialpleasurefor heupperorders,authorityver tstasteswasruledbytheprecept fprivilegewhichwas essential to the ancien regime.12 The beau mondewas beholden tononein itsmusicaltastes;no authoritytoodhigher. hat didnotsimplymeanthat esser rofessionalsuchasmusiciansr ournalistscouldnottellpeoplewhat o isten o;moremportantlytmeant hatconnoisseursn these arifiedocial milieux ould notpresume pontheir earningnd dictate astes. f suchconceitwas possiblen themore earned rtsand letters, here earned uthority as specifiedandinstitutionalized,n theworld fconcerts nd theopera t ranupagainstthe assumptionhatentertainmentid not acknowledgehigherntellectualuthority. usicwas too essential o thedaily ivesoftheupper lassesfor hat ohappen.Ananthropomorphicdeaofthepublic the deaof a unitary,elf-governingudience grew

10The daily repertoiref the Paris opera has been largely econstructedn the"Journaldes entreesournalieres l'AcademieRoyalede Musique" in the Biblio-thequede l'Opera; theprogrammesftheConcert pirituel re reconstitutednCon-stantPierre,Histoiredu Concert pirituel Paris, I975). During he middle hird fthe ighteenthenturyverhalf fthedailyperformancest the pera nsome easonswere of worksbydead composers, ut thisantiquerepertoire as swept wayafterLouis XVI ascended he thronen 1774. For thecourt hapel, eeJ.E. Morby, Bio-graphy fa GrandMotet:TheJeanGillesRequiem nEighteenth-Centuryaris andVersailles", roc. Western oc. forFrenchHist., ii (1975), pp. 78-82;J.E. Morby,"The FrenchClassicalRepertoryntheEighteenthentury", roc. Westernoc.forFrenchHist.,v (1978), pp. 155-60.11JohnHawkins,A GeneralHistory ftheScience and PracticeofMusic,ed. C.Cudworth, vols. New York, i963), p. xix. For a suggestivetudy f theplace ofmusicin learning nd morals, ee H. G. Koenigsberger,Music and Religion nModernEuropean History", n The Diversity fHistory:Essays in Honour ofSirHerbertButterfield,d. J.H. Elliott ndH. G. KoenigsbergerIthaca,N.Y., 1970),pp. 35-78.12Fora cultural ortraitfprivilege inboth ts socialandbureaucraticspectssee Darnton,"The High Enlightenmentnd the Low-Life f Literaturen Pre-Revolutionaryrance"; R. Darnton,The Businessof Enlightenment: PublishingHistory ftheEncyclopedie,775-i8oo (Cambridge,Mass., I979).

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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCEfrom he ssumptionhat llprivilegedersonswerebynature art fthatbody ndwere heir wnmusicaludges.

Still,musichad itsownkind oflearning. ince themiddle gessacredmusichad amountedo anesoteric radition: rittennstricterand moreconservativetyles han secularmusic, t acted n a peda-gogical s well s a liturgicalole.During he eventeenthenturyhepuresacred-musictyleof Giovanni Palestrinawas codified s thereferenceointfor cademicpolyphonic ritingnd was called thestileantico, venthough he old music tselfwas rarely ung.Herealonedidmusic ossess learnedndhistoricalradition.13Assuch hetradition fpolyphonicmusicremained partfrom eneral aste, orduring he ighteenthenturyt did notfollowloselynthe volutionofmusic tylesnd wasgenerallyhoughtccessible some ven aidattractive onlyto thosewith dvancedmusical raining. he in-creasinglyecular,ndeed peratic, tyle fmuchreligiousmusic so-latedthis raditionvenfurther. hile ugalwritingontinueds thehallmark f he earned omposerthat fJ.S. Bachbeing egardedsthemost kilfulf tskind) tdid nothavemany mateur ractitionersand related ittle f at all to classicalstudy f musicaltheory ndaesthetics. sanEnglish entlemanaidsadly f acredpolyphonyn1757:"It requires very eculiar enius omake ny onsiderablero-gressnall thebranches fthatmost levated nd exalted cience".14What, hen,wastheconnoisseuro do? Amateursntheartworldhad no such imits pontheir uthority;hey ould command ll thelearningntheir ield nd extended he toolsofhistorical ttributionbegunbyGiorgioVasari nthe ixteenthentury. en of etters acedno distinctionetween mateur ndprofessionalnd heldswayoverEuropean ulture s themainguardians fthe lassical radition. utconnoisseursn music could claimonlya contemporaryuthority,whichwasbydefinitionntellectuallyeak, nd had tomakedowithtrumped-uplassical radition. oundto thepresent,heyhad to re-spect he udgementfgeneral aste.Neverthelessonnoisseursid exercise learned uthorityftheirown, incemusical ifewas toopowerfulneverydayife or ts ficio-nados not to wield ome nfluence. stheamateurswith hegreatestexposure o musicalevents, hey nteractedwith thepublic n thechanging f tstastes; s theearliest inds fagents,mpresariosndmusic ritics,hey tood s respected,hough everncontrovertible,judgesofmusicandperformance.eopledid seemto listen owhatthey aid. We could umupthementalityfthe ge regardingmusical13Warren Kirkendale, Fuge und Fugato in der Kammermusik des Rokoko unterder Klassiker (Tutzing, 1966); Immogene Horsely, Fugue: History and Practice (NewYork, 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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learningn a maxim:onedidnot haveto know nything pecialtounderstandmusic, ut t wasnice fone did.Allof whichwas tochange fterhe ndofthe ighteenthentury.With herise f a "classical"repertoireromhe 8 ios on,chieflyhemusic fHaydn,Mozart andBeethoven,ame an epochalchange nthehistoryf musical ife, fundamentalransformationn the as-sumptionsftastewhichhas as yetbeen ittle tudied.Hawkinswasa prophet. y the middle f the nineteenthenturyhesymphonicrepertoire as seenas themost erious f artistic orms,oets ookedtomusicfor estheticmodels, nd connoisseurs ad emergeds laypriests f the newmusicaldeities.1 In studyingonnoisseurs e are

studyingheprehistoryfthis hange.We willfirstxaminehowtheword onnaisseur asused and what hatmeant s regards aluesformusical aste.How much idthepublic espectuch person?We willthen ook nto hewaysbywhich onnoisseurselated o thecustomsand traditionsnmusicalife.Did they tand partfrom eneral asteas a "high"tradition?inallywe willdiscuss ifferencesetween hemajor ypes f onnoisseurs the esthetician,hegeneralwriterndthepatron.What kinds fknowledgend authorityidthey laim,andhowdideach onerelate ogeneral aste?The word onnaisseur ada specialmeaningn themusical ife feighteenth-centuryrance.Todaywespeakof theconnoisseurnthesingular s a complimentaryitlefor ndividualswho are known oexcel na particular ield; heword arries nunquestioneduthorityandhasconsistentlyositivemplications.neighteenth-centuryusi-cal commentary,owever,t was almost lwaysused ntheplural, e-signatinghoseknowledgeableboutmusicas a group.Though nmany ontextstattributeduthorityothem,notherst carried e-jorative onnotationsnd eft hevalidityftheir uthorityndoubt.The word cted s a verbalweapon, ither ositivelyrnegatively,s asource f uthorityr as a slur; hrought great ealofgame-playingwent n inthepress nd,onepresumes,ntheparlours fParis.Forgeneral sage, fcourse, hedictionaryftheAcademie rancaise e-fined heword s "someonewho sknowledgeableboutsomething"and ncluded xamplesbout ndividuals"He is a good onnoisseurfhorses").16 utwhile hesingularmayhave been heard nconversa-tion, heword's requentlyegativevertonesnmusicalmattersmusthave imiteduchusage.Whetherositivernegative,erceptionf he onnoisseur asdif-ferent rom hat of both the scholar nd themusician.As the fields

15WilliamWeber, Mass Culture nd theReshaping fEuropeanMusicalTaste,1770-1870", nternat.Rev.Aesthetics nd Sociology fMusic,viii 1977), pp.7-21;WilliamWeber,Music and theMiddle Class: The Social Structure fConcert ife nLondon,Parisand Vienna,1830-48 London,I975).16 Dictionnaire e l'Academie rancaise,4thedn.,2 vols. Paris, 1762), i,p. 370.

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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCEcited nthedictionary horses, iamondsndpaintings suggest,theconnoisseur asgenerallyeen tohavea moreworldly ole thanthescholar, venthough ome had such nterests. or could a con-noisseur e confusedwith professionalmusician:manyplayers tthecourthadlimited erbal iteracy,nd evenwell-knownomposershad onlya smatteringfclassicaleducation.17As one amateurputit: "whenwe learn tosingorplayan instrument,ur masters ailtoteachus generalprinciples,utrather hargeus withpetty bserva-tions,with onfused robscure ules".'8Neverthelessnmusical ifetheword avant learnedman)was used na special ense: s a noun omean musicianwith dvanced echnicalrainingr as anadjectiveosaythata piecewas either arefully rittenrdull. Suchuse of theword occurredn a commentmade early n thecenturyhat "ourskilledmasters ave found he secret f howknowledgeablysavam-ment) o unitethe natural asteof theFrenchwith he brilliantndlearnedsavant) tyle fthe talians ncantatas".19 husconnoisseursstoodbetween hepublic nd themusical rofession,rovidinghe newith ssistancenunderstandingheknowledgef the other.Never-theless he aste f onnoisseurs as also sometimesonsideredavant,since omehad technicalmusical raining.Wecansee thepositiveideof heiruthorityest nreferenceso esconnaisseursn theMercure eFrance, hemonthlyournalwhichwasin effectaris's mainnewspapernd hadthemost egular nd exten-sivemusical ommentaryf nyperiodical. trictlypeaking,ne can-not call thiswritingmusic riticism,ince nmany ases theanony-mouscolumn nspectacles, report n recent vents t theatresndconcerts, id notopenly valuatethe musicor theperformance.n-steadwriters ften pokeof the mpressionsupposedly xpressed ylepublic ndby esconnaisseurs.n a reportn an Italian ria n175one hears hat this ria wasgreatlyppreciated yconnoisseurs,ndseemed omake very greeablempressionponthepublic".20nthesame eason changenthe ctstoberepresentedrom nopera-ballet(Rameau'sLes Indesgalantes)drew he ommenthat hehall'sdirec-torshad "suppressedn actfrom e turc enereuxwhich hepublic,and especially heconnoisseurs, ould haveregrettederymuch, ftheyhadnot ubstitutedhe actfrom es sauvages,whose eputationis so justly stablished".21 riters ften uggestedhe pecialmusical

17Benoit, Versailles t les musiciensdu roi, p. 80. One workby a practisingmusicianwho didhave a full lassical ducationwas theAbbeSebastiende Brossard'sDictionnaire e la musique Paris, 1701).18J.L. Lecerfde la Vieville, omparaison e la musique talienne t de la musiquefrancaise,n Bonnet,Histoirede la musique t de ses effets,i,p. 305.19Bonnet, p. cit., , p. 36I. See also MercuredeFrance,July 777, p. 172; M. A.Laugier,Apologiede la musiquefrancaiseParis, 1754),p. 2 1.20MercuredeFrance,May 1750, p. 85.21 Ibid., Sept. 1751, p. I87. See also ibid.,Apr. 1763,p. 176; June1763,p. 196;Apr. 1777, P. 172.

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perceptionfthe onnoisseurs. reportntheperformancef well-known opranomentionedhat thepublicwascharmed, utthe on-noisseurswere urprised owmuchof herself heput ntothepiece,whichwascharmingn tself".22nother ccasions he udgementsftheconnoisseurs,ut notofthepublic,were ited.A report f a newproductionfLully'sProserpinen1727began ritical iscussion iththewords: here s what heconnoisseurshink f theprologue".23Allusion o les connaisseurs husgavewritersnthepublicpressfeignedmpersonality,mask hrough hich hey oulddeliver pin-ionwithout eing ntirelyesponsibleor t. The writer f thereportonProserpineeminded eaders hat:"Such are thevarious pinionswe haveheard bout heopera;we are not o bold s to addanyofourown.Our reportsre only ntended o inform hepublicof tsownsentiments;urownviewswouldnot lonehave muchweight".24ettheworddidnot implyunctions a literary ask, or tappearednawidevariety f contextswhere t implied uthority.n I784, for x-ample, directivey heAcademie oyaledeMusiquefor onsideringnewoperasordered rialperformancesforthe udgementf thead-ministration nd the connoisseurs".25Withthe wordssavant, connaisseur and public, eighteenth-centuryFrenchmen efined hierarchy f musicalknowledge. he threegroupswere n a sensetheorders fmusical ife, he ocialestates fpeoplewith ifferentevels fexpertise.twas inthenature fthingsthat theordershad authorityn inverse roportiono theirmusicaltraining. n 1752 the writern the Mercure de France reported hat aninstrumentalork yJean-Josephondonvillewasapproved y heconnoisseursnd charmed ll ears, he killed s much s the gnorant(tant les habiles que les ignorants)".26Frenchmenaccepted musicalignorancendknowledgelike;formembersftheprivilegedlasses,ignorance id notruleout musicalbliss.

Indeed theauthorityf musicalknowledgewas often uestioned.Thenegativemplicationsarried y heword onnaisseurxposewithparticular larity owthepublichadsuchprimacynmusical aste.nthe reporton a new productionof Lully's Bellerophon in I728, the22Ibid.,Jan. 1751,P. 184.23Ibid.,Feb. 1727, p. 345.See alsoibid.,Jan.1750, p. 194; Apr.1750, P. 187;June1751,p. 73; Sept. 1751,p. 190; Apr. 1753,P. 16.24 Ibid.,Feb. 1727, p. 348.25Arret u Conseild'Etat,Maison du Roi, 13May 1784,p. 29: A.N.,ol 613. Seealso Louis Bollioud de Mermet, e la corruptionugoutdans la musique rancaise

(Lyons,1746),pp.41, 53; Titon duTillet,Le parnassefranfaisParis, 1755),p. 56;Memoires our 'histoire es sciences t des beaux-artsconventionallynown sJour-nal de Trevoux),Nov. 1746,p. 265 ; CharlesColle,Journalhistorique,d. H. Bon-homme, vols. Paris, i868), i,p. 391.26Mercurede France,May 1747,p. 120. See also ibid.,May 1752, p. 176; Jan.1763,p. 142.The word mateurwasoften,hough otconsistently,sed na similarsenseas connaisseur: ee ibid.,Feb. 175 , p. 188.




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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCEwritern theMercurede France showed furrowedrow n statingthat"someconnoisseurselieved hatNeptune,whilebeing nterro-gatedbyJobate, ouldhave bestbeengiven sailors' ance .. butwewill eave to readers he ibertyf udgingwhether r notthatwouldhave beenbetter".27he word onnaisseurften orethederogatoryprefix retendu rsoi-disant,suallywhen he uperiorudgementfthepublicwas nvoked. nanonymousssay n the perapublishedn1776 aiddown heprinciplehat:

no udgeother hanthepublic houlddecide hemerit fa piecedesigned o amuseand captivate t. This truth s indeedcrucial, incefailurehas so often ome toworks hought xcellent y pretendedonnoisseurs,menoftaste, r theatre irec-tors, ndbrought ownfailure nd humiliationponthese ameauthors, retendedmenof etters,nd connoisseurs.28We shall see more uch commentss weproceed.A writer arly n thecentury as provided s with particularlycomprehensiveiscussion f esconnaisseurs. eanLaurentLecerf ela Vieville ( 674-7 1 ) was a learned seigneurof Rouen. A memberoftheparlementfNormandy,e wrote reatisesnCatullus nd Alex-ander the Great and also the Comparaison de la musique italienne etde la musiquefrancaise ( 704-6), theprincipalwork n supportoftheFrench tylewhichopenedthe ongcontroversy.29n the sixthdia-

logue ofthiswork a comtesse s elaboratingto le chevalierand Mile. leM. the originsof le bon gozut:The thingofgreatest eauty s that which s admired quallyby thepublic lepeuple)andbythe earned r the onnoisseurs. ccordinglyesteem irsthatwhichisadmired ymembersfthepublic, ndregardeastof ll thatwhich sadmired ythe connoisseurs.But Mademoiselle ikes precisedefinitions. he learned aremasters fmusic,musicians yestate, rained ytherules.The public sthemulti-tude,thegreater umber,who have notbeenraised to specialknowledgend areguided n theirudgementsnlybynatural entiment. onnoisseurs re thosewhoare notentirelyfthepublicnor ofthe earned,half theone,halftheother, . .owing s muchtothe rules s to natural entiment.30

Lecerfwasquickto make clearwhathe meantby epeuple:not the"shop-boys,orters, aitresses ndcooks,who isten o songsbythePont-Neuf nd nevergo to theopera",but rather honnetes ens,peopleofquality, distinguished ultitude, hofrequenthe thea-tres, ut whodonotcarry here nyknowledgeftherules".31In hiscomments esee howprivilegelurred hehierarchyf earn-ingwithinmusical ife.Mastermusicians ndconnoisseurs ad an au-thorityorn ftheirpecialknowledge,utthey erved nly o nform27Ibid.,Apr. 1728, p. 809. See also ibid.,June1739,p. 1389.28Anon.,Lettres 'un amateur Paris, 1776),p. 21.29Lecerf,Comparaisonde la musiqueitalienne;thiswork circulated he mostwidely s vols. ii-iv n the 1725 editionofBonnet,Histoirede la musiqueet de seseffets.30 Lecerf,p. cit., i,pp. 293-4.31 Ibid.,pp. 295-6.

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andeducate hegeneral ublic,withwhom heultimateuthorityvertasteresided.n philosophicalerms,hatprinciple ested pontheidea of e sentiment aturel the tarting-pointf aestheticsntheseventeenthnd eighteenthenturies- and amounted o a univer-salistic onceptionftastewithin heupper rders. nowledgeervedtoclarify,oelaborate, astebornof a nature; t did notbringnde-pendent,ar esshigher, nderstanding.owfar his ensibilitytandsfromur own! nthe yes fLecerf eneral aste idnotmean lowestcommon enominator,s twentieth-centuryindswouldbequicktophrase t,butrather he onsideredudgementftheprivilegedublicaidedbythe earnednits midst.The controversyver talianmusic llustratesowconnoisseurse-lated to thepublic, nd indeedto each other.As thepopularityfItalian music wept crossEuropebetween heI66os and 1740s, heFrench ourt nforced virtual lockade gainst peraswritten ut-sidethecountrynddiscouragedhe-nflux f taliancomposersndperformers.ecause Frenchmen eard o ittle talianmusic twasre-gardedby many s la musique avante ndthus s foreignogeneraltaste.AbbeFrancoisRaguenet,whobegan he iteraryisputen1704with defence f talianmusic, dmittedhat the talianrecitativesa pieceofcomposition ardly ver obecomprehendedy trangers"and wonderedt "howmuch rt andknowledges necessary or hecomposing, laying, nd singing f t".32The fewpeoplewho heardmuch f ttended obe connoisseurs hoflauntedheir nowledges akindofradicalchic,and thesupportersfthe French tyle ccusedthem fholdingn esoteric ndunnatural aste.As oneessayistom-mented arly n thecentury, roponentsfthe talianstylewere alittle ectofhalf-knowledgeable,hough airly restigious,eopleofproperty hodisplay heir ategorical pinions ndproscriberenchmusicdogmatically,s dullandtasteless,rentirelynsipid".33ecerflikewise riticized heelaborateornamentationf theItalianvocalstyle s comprehensiblenly o connoisseurs.34By the middleof theeighteenthentury nough talian instru-mental nd vocalmusichad appeared n the Concert pirituel ndprivateoncerts hat he talian tyle raduallynteredeneral aste.35Butconservativeriters,hemselvesonnoisseurs,tillnvoked he ldaccusationsgainstt. n thefamous uerelle esbouffons,hedisputeoverPergolesi's a servapadronain 1752, thepowerfulitterateur

32Francois Raguenet,A Comparisonbetweenthe French and Italian Operas(London,1709; repr.London,1968),pp. 35, 42.33Bonnet, p. cit., ,p. 293.34 Lecerf, p. cit., i,p. 8I. See alsoBonnet, p. cit., ,p. 293; FrancoisCartauddeLa Villate, ssai historiquetphilosophiqueParis, 1736),pp. 291-5.35See Pierre,Histoiredu Concert pirituel, ppendix; owellLindgren,ParisianPatronageof Performersrom heRoyal Academy fMusick,1719-28",Music andLetters,viii I977), PP. 4-29.




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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCEElie Freron idiculedhework's upporterss anintellectual inority:"onemayobserve hat,whenever hebouffonsaveperformed,herehave beenonly ne ortwogeometricians,awyersndpublicistsin heaudience], ndalmostnowomen".36 notherolemicistf hat actionridiculed ne of hisopponents eading n Italian ibrettondsaying,"I thenfallasleep, ince am a connoisseur".37Let us now ook t where onnoisseurstoodwithin he ocial truc-tureofthemusicalworld.The idea thattheymust erve hegeneralpublic, hough tatedbyLecerf nd othersn aestheticerms, ad afirmocialbasis nthe ustomsnd traditionsfmusical ife.AsHenriLagravehasshownn hisstudy fParisian heatre udiences etween1715and 1750, hepublic tthefour allswassmall, egularnatten-dance,andshared common odyof artisticxperience.38hatwasparticularlyrue t the pera-house,heAcademie oyaledeMusique,where n averageonly ix newproductions eremountednnually,performedhree r four imes week, levenmonths year.39 heConcert pirituel, eld ntheTuileries nholy ayswhen he heatreswereshut,repeatedmuchofthesamerepertoire,lusinstrumentalmusicwhichpeopleheard n salonsand sacredmotetsnchurches.senseofgeneral astewith ittle ifferentiationy nstitutionsr aes-thetic evel thusgrewfrom hisunity frepertoirend composingstyles.Monopolistic racticesfthe ncienregimeimitedheprolifer-ation or specialization f musical nstitutions,orauthorities er-mitted ew oncertsorival theConcert pirituel.Only n the nine-teenth entury id operaand concerthallsexpandand becomedif-ferentiatedymusicalgenres nd levels ftaste.That musicaleventshad a loose socialetiquette, y today's tan-dards t least, ame npartfrom hegeneralnature ftheir udienceand their aste.At theopera peoplesometimesang alongwiththemusic; t other imes heyhad a hard timehearingtoverthehulla-baloo of thepetit-maitres,hewell-borneenagersoften romourt)whosemain ctivitynthepitwastryingo attractttentionywavingtheirorgnettesndshoutingnsults.40twas,afterll,their rivilege.36Elie Freron, ettres ur a musiquefranfaiseGeneva, I754), pp. 7-8.37 [M.-F.-P.deMairobert], esprophities ugrandpropheteMonet Paris, 1753),inQuerelledesbouffons,d. DeniseLaunay,3 vols. Geneva,1973), ,p. 304. See alsoAnon.,La guerrede l'opera Paris, 1752), in ibid., ,p. 322; F.-A.Chevrier, bserva-tions ur e thdetrefrancaisParis, 1755),p. 74; [La Porte ed.)],Observations ur alitterature oderne,,pp.233-4.The accusation hatmusicwasonlyfor onnoisseurswas, however, hrown t almost verymajorcomposer t some timeor another: orLully, eeBonnet, p. cit., ,pp. 306-7;forRameau,seeF.-A.Chevrier, es ridiculesdu siecle Paris, 1752), p. 39.38 Lagrave,Le thedtret lepublicdParisde I7z5 a 1750,pp. 170-204.39For an intensive tudy f repertoire,ee E. Giuliani,"Le publicet l'Opera deParisde 1750a 1760:mesure tdefinition",nternat. ev. AestheticsndSociology fMusic,viii 1977), pp. 159-8 .40 Lagrave,op. cit.,pp.220-34; [Joseph ddison], heSpectator, d.D. F. Bond,5vols. (Oxford,1965), i, pp. 122-3 (3 Apr. 171 ); J.B. de Boyer,marquisd'Argens,Lettresjuives, vols. The Hague, I738), i, p. I6.

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Complaints eremade,most ften robablyy onnoisseurs,ut heselearned mateurs idnot tyle hemselvess socialorartisticdealists.Ifan occasionalpurist aid thatpeoplewent oconcerts rtheopera"only o beseen", onnoisseursidnot eriouslyissent romhe ocialcustoms ftheir ime.41Theycertainlyidnotobject othe exual sideofmusical ife.Formanygentilshommes,earnedorno,theoperafunctioneds an ele-ganthouseofprostitution unbureaudeplaisir, ne writer alled twith heyoungwomennthemusical nd dancecorps,esfillesdel'opera.42The Concert pirituel tood n nohighern ethicalplane;manymenwent here, neamateur eported,omeet ingersas re-nownedfor theirbeautyas fortheir ibertinenclinations",withwhom small, ntimate innerswould ucceed hespiritualityftheconcert".43 he best-knownonnoisseurfthemid-eighteenthen-tury, ameau'spatronAlexandre-Jean-Josephe Richede La Poup-liniere,was especially nownforhisexploits,nd published torieswhich heMemoires ecretsfBachaumont alled a rhapsody orthyto servethecolporteur".44Yetweshouldnot hinkf ighteenth-centuryusical xperiencesinherentlynserious rdisorderly.et us consider spectrumf ocialrelationshipsnot, f ourse,ocialclasses)possiblemongmembersfa public, anging romtrictlyndividualo mpersonalna mass on-text.45ur ownmusical ife ends owards he xtremes,ince oncert-halletiquettend therecord-playeravedefinedisteningmore s anindividualhana socialexperience,nd concertmanagementnd theproductionf records re massprocesses. hatofeighteenth-centuryFrance aysomewherenbetween.thad almostno mass ocialstruc-ture;publishing as still mall nscale anddepended pon personalrelationshipsordistribution.llmusical vents, rom heoperahalltothe ourt otheprivate alon,were asedon an intricate ebofper-sonalties, ormost eople n thepublic ealt nsomemannerwith er-formersndwith ach other.Theseexchanges ontrolled ehaviour

41 See, for xample,Anon.,Lettres 'unamateur, p. 56-7.42 [FrancoisMayeurde Saint Paul], Le volplus haut ou l'espiondesprincipauxthdetres e a capitale Paris,1784),p. 42. Comments n thesemattersreendless. eeF.-A.Chevrier, onstitutione l'Opera Paris,1750),pp.xliii-xliv,xii-lxiii; hevrier,Les ridicules usiecle, p.39-42;Anon., es confessionsu comte exxx Amsterdam,1741),p. 124;Boyer, p. cit., ,pp. 182-92,234-46;EmileRaunie,Chansonniers is-toriques uXVIIIcsiecle, o vols. Paris,1879),vii,pp.47-50, 158-67.43[Mayeurde SaintPaul],op. cit.,pp. 26-7.44[LouisPetitde Bachaumont tal.],Memoires ecrets ourservir l'histoire elarepubliquedes lettres n France, 36 vols. (London, 1777-89), ii, p. 255 (22 Aug.1767).Englandhada closeparallel oLa PouplinierenJohnMontague, arlofSand-wich,notorious layboy nd thebetrayerfJohnWilkes,who was amongthe mostpowerfulmusical mateurs fhistime.4SThe social model derivesfromPhilippeAries,Centuries f Childhood, rans.RobertBaldick NewYork,1962), pp. 365-415.




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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCEand indeedgenerated seriousartistic limate:patronties forcedpeopleto isten.

Ifwe look at the other ndofthespectrum,hesociety ad littlesenseofmusic s a strictlyndividualxperience. hat was tocome nthe nineteenthentury,s Romanticbeliefs nd thetighteningfsocialetiquettenpublichallsseparatedisteners rom ne another.Before hathappened,he udgementfmusic r tsperformanceasseen rather s a socialprocess. tiquette llowed alk,movingbout,evencard-playingnd occasionalfisticuffs,ndwhile hatmaymeananarchy o us, topeopleof the time tcomprised controlled ocialinterplay hichwas integralo musical xperience. ecerf uggestedthis ensibilitynthewords f a comtesse:To acquiregoodtaste,we accustom urselves o udging verythingy isteningoour natural entimentndbyconfirmingt with igand ittle ules .. Attheoperawestudywith are themovementsf pectatorsnd etourselvesdentifyhe udge-ments fthepublic nd our ownbythe udgementftime.46The connoisseurecessarilyadan ambiguousuthorityna socialcontext fthiskind.A claim tospecialknowledgeould threaten heprinciplefnatural entiment;fpressed oohard tcould hreatenheprinciplefprivilegendupset he ntricaterocess f ocialexchangethroughwhichgood taste was thought o emerge. or that reasonLecerfhad a profounduspicion oth f e savant nd econnaisseur:their ole was toinformhepublic,notdictate tspreferences.Thepersonwho knowshowto praisein a reasonable nd proportionedmanner", esaid,"willbe a perfectonnoisseur".47Similar onceptionsfconnoisseurndpublichada longvintagenthe theatre.n a study fseventeenth-centuryrench hetoric ughM. Davidson has shownhowwriters aw thetheatreworld s com-posed of les doctes and a widerbody of les mondains or les honnetesgens.48 The duty f therhetorician as tobring he earned ogetherwith he arger ublicbyputtinglevated deas nan accessible orm.Davidson has depictedhow thepublicwieldedpowerover taste nFrench heatre,nmuch he amemanner swehave seen nmusicallife.One can indeedfindmany fthe amedynamicss well nEliza-bethan nd Restorationheatre: heprimacyfthepublicwasthe inequa non ofcultural ife ntheearlymodern eriod.Yet these imilaritiesadimportantimits. ince musichadnotrueclassicalheritage,tshierarchyfknowledge asweakly efined,ndits earnedmenhad no nstitutionaluthority,oacademy.ftheAca-demieFrancaisedevotedtself ocodifyinghe French anguage nd46Lecerf, omparaison ela musique talienne,i,p. 309. See alsoCharlesBatteux,Les beaux-arts eduits unmeme rincipe Paris, 1747),p. I25.47Lecerf, p. cit., i,p. 315.48 H. M. Davidson,Audience,Words and Art: Studies in Seventeenth-CenturyFrench Rhetoric (Columbus, Ohio, I965), pp. 50, I26-32, 151-2.

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writing dictionary thusgoverningll modes f discourse theAcademieRoyaledeMusiquewasonly nopera ompanywith fancyname, royal how-place ith classicalveneer. t innowayresem-bledtheacademies n science,iteraturend theplastic rts, ndnotuntil 1791 did it acquirean educational rm.By thesame token,musiciansmight ometimes ntertainmembers ftheAcademiedesInscriptionstBelles-Lettres,ut the ociety ad nomusical ivision,either rofessionalramateur.49Musical life lso had a much moreweakly efined esthetic ier-archy mong rtistic orms hanthe otherfields. y the endoftheseventeenthenturyhere ademergedn iteraturendthefine rts,farmore han nmusic, arefullyefined chemes s to theaestheticimportancefdifferentorms. he rankingseen mong he pic, hesonnet nd the pigramnpoetry,rbetweenheportrait, istoryndlandscapepaintings, ad almostno parallel n instrumental usic,many fwhose orms aried normouslynpractice.50he distinctionbetweenragedieyriquendoperacomiquehadsomethingfa paral-lelwith ragicnd comic rama, utasJamesR.Anthonyasargued,the ibrettos f tragedies lyriquesweregalantrather hanheroic rtragic,nd thedivertissementsfdance ndspectaclewere hefocus fattention ormuch f thepublic.51nstitutionalarallels side,Lullywasnotthought musicalRacine.Moreovermany onnoisseursookthe mportedperabuffa ery eriouslyndeedfrom he start f thecentury,nd after 750the ocaloperacomique swell.The theatreswhichpresentedheseworks rewuponmuch he amepublic s theAcad6mieRoyalede Musique;muchoftheir epertoire as a ritual-ized satire f the pectacles ompeuxntheotherhall.52Onecouldevenarguethat hemassof thepeople tood utside hegeneral aste ftheupper rdersessbecause hemusic eemed sotericthanbecausethey idnot hare nthe ocialgraces fthe leganttylegalant. Even so, manyoperaairswerecommonlyungalongwithpopular ongs t thePont-Neuf,hemainParisian ocale fortinerantballadsingers; ecerf egardedhat s oneofthebestproofs fgood

49[P. C. de La Blancherieed.)],Les nouvelles e a republique es ettrestdes rts,7 vols. (Paris, 1777-87), v,pp. 141 (15 May 1782), 163-4 5 June1782); and fre-quentlyn 1782-4.For membersf the cademies, ee Almanachroyal, xxix 1780),pp.472-97.50See WilliamS. Newman,The Sonata in theBaroque Era (New York, 1959);White,CanvasesandCareers;Krzysztofomian, Marchands, onnaisseurs,urieuxa Parisau XVIIIe siecle",Revue de l'art,xliii 979), pp. 23-6;Davidson,op. cit.,pp.I72-7.51Anthony,renchBaroqueMusicfrom eaujoyeulx oRameau,pp.33,70-4.Seealso PatrickJ.Smith,TheTenthMuse:A Historical tudy f heOperaLibrettoNewYork,1970),pp.42-7.52 R. M. Isherwood,"Popular Musical Entertainmentn Eighteenth-CenturyParis", nternat.Rev. Aesthetics ndSociology fMusic, x I 978), pp. 295-3 0.

NUMBER 892 PAST AND PRESENT



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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCEtaste.53ndeedthe musicof theopera comiquederivedn largepartfrom opular songs, nd themostfamous itterateursromVoltairedownwards lsowrote hansons o be sungtotunes verybodynewin clubsandsalons.54InFrancemusic ay particularlyow nthe esthetic ierarchyincethere he iterary orldhadsuch a powerfulradition nd controlledlearned iscussionfmusic.Howcoulda musician ival he ofty ro-gramme f the AcademieFrancaise?Whatcoulda librettistayto aprofessionalpera-haterikeBoileau?No French ibrettistriedtohavehis worksread as poetryndependentf themusic, s Italianwritersuch sApostolo enodid,publishingxpanded extswith ec-tionsnot ntendedo beperformed.5fgensde ettresookeddown nmusic, heoperamost fall,that ame npartfromealousy owardsthe mportancefmusic n the ivesoftheupper lasses.Voltaire, orexample, rumbledhat:theopera s a publicrendezvouswherewe assemble n certain ayswithout now-ingwhy. t isa placewhere veryone oes, lthoughwespeak ll of he omposerndthough ebeboring. ycontrast, major ffortsrequired odraw hemultitudeotheComedie, ndI almost lwaysfind hat hegreatestuccess f fine ragedyoesnotapproachthatof a mediocre pera.56Frenchmusical ife lso had a less earned cademic raditionhanelsewhere. uring hereign fLouisXIVthe tile ntico ll butdisap-pearedfrom hemusic fthe ourt hapels;works asedon theBaro-que bassocontinuo, alledmotets utrelated o thecantata,drama-tizedRoyalGallicanism ytheir randeurndmodernity,odifferentfromheantique ounterpointn theVatican'sSistineChapel.Whilemusicwritteno theoldtechnique ersistedtNotreDame and othercathedrals,tdidnotfoster s strong traditionffugalwritingnanacademicveinas wasfound mong earned omposersnother oun-tries.57n LondontheMadrigalSociety ndtheAcademy fAncient

53Lecerf, p.cit., i,pp. 300-I. See alsoJacquesLacombe,Dictionnaire ortatif esbeaux-artsParis, 1755),p. 391.54Anthony, p. cit.,pp. 335-49;Naudin,Evolutionparallelede la poesieet de lamusiqueen France,pp. 155-8;Raunie, Chansonniers istoriques u XVIIIe siecle,passim.Afewworkingmenmade theirway nto heoperapit:seepolicereportsn J.de La Porte ed.)],Almanachdesspectacles eParis,43 vols. Paris,1752-94),viii,pp.8-27.55R. S. Freeman, ApostoloZeno's Reform f theLibretto",Jl.Amer.Musico-logicalSoc., xxi (1968), pp. 321-41. J. R. Anthonyoinedthe term professionalopera-hater":Anthony, p. cit.,p. 70.56 Voltaire oCedeville,15Nov. 1732, in Correspondence,d. T. Besterman, 07vols. Geneva, 1953-65), i,pp. 386-7. For a claim that ocialetiquettewas morere-strainedn theComedieFrancaisethan n theOpera,see Mercure de France,June1750, pp. I41-2.57Denise Launay, NorbertDufourcq and J. R. Anthony, Church Music inFrance", n NewOxfordHistory fMusic, i i vols. London, 954-75), v,OperaandChurchMusic, 1630-1750 (London, 1975), pp. 414-92; Anthony, renchBaroqueMusicfromBeaujoyeulx oRameau,pp. 155-218.

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Musicsponsorederformancesfmadrigalsnd canonsfromhe ix-teenthndseventeenthenturies. venthoughhesemusic-and-diningclubswere mall,private ndunrepresentativefanytrendsn earn-ed orgeneral aste, hey cted s an independentase for onnoisseursofthe kindnotfoundnFrance.58 urthermorerench onnoisseursdo not eem o havebeen ctive ollectors foldmusicmanuscriptsstheir nglish ounterpartsere.59French onnoisseurs everthelessxercised greater uthoritynpublic ife hantheir olleagues lsewhere,orthe ndependence-perhaps he solation- ofthe nation'smusical ifebred special o-phisticationf tastewhichflourishedn the luxuriantntellectualclimate feighteenth-centuryaris. As theonly ountryutsidetalywith trongndigenous peragenres, rancehada traditionfcriticalcomment- a connoisseurshipfopinion rivalled ynone.60 hatmayhave beenpossiblenpartbecausemusicwasnotviewedwith smuchmoral uspicionnFrance s inEngland rProtestantermany.Connoisseursouldtake trong ublic eadershipecause hey id nothaveto fear thical ttacks pontheir nterests.61French onnoisseurs,hen,did not form artof a "high"musicaltradition. s ntermediariesetweenmusiciansndthegeneral ublic,theywererespectedor heirknowledgend theireadershipn musi-cal life, ut hey idnot tand partfromhepublicn their astes. hecustoms fmusical ifehad weakhierarchies,hethermongmusicalforms rthe ocialpurposesfmusic,nd imited hedifferentiationfparticipantsnd the uthorityf theknowledgeablemateur nd themusician.Did musical ife ufferhereby?ven ifthesevaluesmayseem lientothe levated rinciplesfmodern lassical-musicife,wemust ememberhat hey avemusical ffairs contemporaneity,nearthinessnd a lack of intellectualretension,ualitieswhich ancompare attractively ith the dogmatichistoricismfmusical ifetoday.58On theAcademy fAncientMusic,see J.Doane,Musical DirectoryLondon,1794),pp. 76-86;Anon.,Words fSuch Pieces as are MostUsuallyPerformedytheAcademy fAncientMusic London, 76 ). On theMadrigalSociety, eeJ.G. Crau-furd, The MadrigalSociety", roc.Roy.MusicalSoc., lxxxii 1956), pp. 33-46, ndJ.G. Craufurd, A ListofMemoranda n VariousAspects f theMadrigalSociety",Papersof theMadrigalSociety,Brit.Lib.,Dept. ofMusic.59AlexanderHyattKing,Some BritishCollectors fMusic, c. 1600-1960 Cam-bridge, 963). n Francemusic efore ully's imehad few dmirers. ee Lecerf, om-paraisonde la musique talienne,ii,pp. 251-7, ndiv,pp. 124-6;Batteux, es beaux-arts rdduits unmme principe, . 286; [J.-L.Castillon?],Fugue", inSupplementl'encyclopedie, 4 vols. Amsterdam,776-7), ii,pp. 143-4.60 Fora biased,butprobably eliable, omparison fFrench nd English onnois-seurs, eeJournaldeParis, 17Jan. I780, pp. 72-3.61 Ethicalreproachesgainstmusic, ommon n the eventeenthentury,eturnedin forceduring hedecade before herevolution. or moralisticand vaguelyJan-senist) ttacks pontheOpera,Concert pirituelndBeaumarchais,eeAnon., ettredeM***,negociant eParis,dM***, correspondantD*** (Paris, 1786).




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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCEWho, then,were es connaisseurs?Whatkindsofknowledgendauthorityidthey laim? herewere hreemain ypes f onnoisseursinFranceduring his ime: hewriterf earned esthetics,hewriterof generalmusicalcommentary,nd theamateur nd patron.Notmanypeoplehad more han one kindofinterest.Whileeach of thethree ypes ad considerableange f ocialbackground,tleastwith-intheprosperouslasses, hegroups iddifferomewhatnthepropor-tionsofpeopleon various evels:patrons sually toodthehighest,and generalwriters he lowest.Each typeunderwent ignificantchangeduringhe entury.nthe volution fthe hree roups uringthisperiodwecan seesocial tendencies hich oreshadowhebreak-downoftheunitary ublicafter heturn fthe nineteenthentury.The roleswhich onnoisseursuiltupinParisat this imemadethemprincipal gentsof social forces commercialism,rofessionalismand artisticdealismwhich were atertosplintermusical ife ntoseparate omains ndreshape hewhole exturef musical aste.The musicalpatron s a subject s yet ittle xplored,nd we canmake onlya few imitedpointshere. The background f patronsemerges rom tabulation yAnneChastelof all thosepersons owhommusicwas dedicated nd whowerementionednperiodicals e-tween 774and 1789 a period arrichernprinted ommentarynmusicthanpre-I77o.62 yno meanswould all ofthesepeoplehavebeenknown s connoisseurs,ut since hey id more han implyakemusic essons,most fthemajorconnoisseursf this ypemusthavebeen mong hem.Amonghe560names, per entwerewomennd38per entmen,with per entunidentifiable.incewomen layed ocentral role ndomesticmusic-making,any f hemmusthavebeenregardeds connoisseurs. ristocratsoomedarge mong atrons: 4percent of thepersonshad stated itles including aron, hevalier,androyalty),I percenthad theprefixe intheir ames, nd25 per

centhad neither.63he largenumber fpersonswithmajor itles207 wereprince, marquis, duc, comte,vicomte,or thefemaleequiva-lents suggests he severe conomic equirementsehindthepa-tron's ole.But for hatvery eason heremusthavebeenother ma-teurs f esser tatuswho,thoughnot able toafford hehigh ost ofpublication,emunerated usicians orworks one nmanuscript.The patron xerted, irstndforemost,he conomicuthorityf amecene protector),utthatrolegrew ut ofmusical ctivityndin-deeda presumedmusical uthority. ostpatronsangorplayed nin-62 A. Chastel, Etudesur a vie musicale Parisa traversa presse endant eregnede Louis XVI", Recherches ur la musique ranaaiseclassiqueau XVIIIe siecle,xvii(1977), PP. 11 -49.63Titles wereonlyslightlymorenumerous mongthepersonswho rented oxes(full rpartial) t theOperathan mong hepatrons.nApril1768,for xample, he104rentersncluded 2 per entpersonswith itles, 2per entpersonswith e ntheirnames, nd 15 percentwithneither. ee "Loges louees a l'ann&e":A.N.,AJ13 4.

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strument,aughtbytheirmusical lients;workswereoftenwrittenwithpedagogicalpurposes or pecific eople.A number fpatronsthemselvesomposed, venpublished,musicalpieces,though heygenerallyid thatunder he losesupervisionfa musician,ndnonedevelopedomposingareers.64Patrons'renown ameless from killas performersrcomposersthanfrom he wider ctivitieshey ursued nmusical ife,many fwhichwere ater opass nto rofessionalands.Concertsnhomes, rsimply erformancest a salon,hadparticularmportancenParisbe-causethe tatemonopolyf theConcert pirituel bestowed ytheopera- limitedhe number f other ublic oncerts. atrons unc-tioned s agents or heirmusicians' areers,urryingavour or heminhighplaceswithin he tatemusical ystem. few ecamedirectorsoftheopera, nvestingheir apitalas entrepreneurs.65hose whosemusicians omposed erved s a distributionetwork,btaining ay-ment or ubscriptionsormusic ither ublished rinmanuscript.66In 1757an amateur, upposedly major nthe avalry, he argelyaristocratic ousquetairesoirs, escribed hat ystem:

Everyhouse has its favouritemusician; t is he whosets thetone of musical ife,forcing isstudentsodohisbidding ndfillingheirmusic-stands ithhispieces.The master f the houseoccupieshimselfnvaunting hemusician'sworks nd inpressingopiesuponthose omplacent nough obuythem.67He suggested ow earned mateurs ike himself ieldednfluencenpublicconcerts nd might ee theirmusical nterestss purer hanthose f thegeneral ublic:concerts re attended ya largenumber f dlepeopleandonly smallnumber fconnoisseurs;women re theornaments f theoccasionand a sourceof emulationfor heperformers.nly few mong hepublic re ableto udgetalent, reven otalk about it,sincethe argestnumber imply ome to amusethemselves,ochat,and toshow themselvesbout.6864 The amateursrecognized hemostwidely s composerswere the chevalierdeBrassac,whohad twoopera-balletserformednthe 730s; the hevalier 'Herbain,whopresentedeveral ntermezzin Italy n the I750s; the baron de Rumling,whopublished n operaand several uartetsnthe1780s;and thebarondeBagge, uthorofa variety fpieces.65 See "Precis sur l'administratione l'AcademieRoyalede Musique", i Mar.I783, and letters f amateurs otheoperaadministrationn favour f musiciansndlibrettists: .N.,o1 614-15.For contractsfprivilege-holderst theopera, ee"Regle-ments":A.N., AJ13 .66 On thehistoryfmusic-publishingn theeighteenthentury,eeAnikDevries,Editionet commerce e la musiquegraveed Paris (Geneva, 1976); Klaus Hort-schansky,Der Musiker ls Musikalienhandlernder zweitenHalftedes 8. Jh.", n

W. Salmen (ed.), Der SozialstatusdesBerufsmusikersom17. bis i9. Jh. (Kassel,197I), pp. 83-102.67Ancelet pseud.?],Observations ur a musique, es musiciens tles instruments(Paris, 1757),p. 39.The work hows highdegree fmusicalknowledgendsophisti-cation. See "Ancelet", n F.-J.Fetis,Biographieuniverselle es musiciens, vols.(Paris, I860-5), i,p. 94.68Ancelet, p. cit.,p. 38.




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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCEButhedidnotdeludehimselfs tohowfarhisauthority ent, orhecited he aseofa singerwhofailed omake strongmpressiont theConcertSpirituel the starting-pointor career t theopera"eventhoughhe generally ainedtheapproval fthe trueconnois-seurs".69nterestinglynough,ater n thecentury playwrightsti-matedthat bouta third f thepeopleat that eriesmight e calledconnaisseurs.70The mostprominent atronshad highly ublicand controversialcareers s connoisseursndwere n someways atypical f their ol-leagues.Thoughtheir ocialstandingwasrelatively igh ndnotre-cently ained, hey idnothavemajor itles,ndtheir ssertivenessspatrons ften avethem eputationss cultural rrivistes. a Poup-liniere,who exerted powerfulnfluencen the evolution feight-eenth-centuryusic s the upporterfRameau,Johann tamitz ndFrancois-Josephossec,was a farmer-generalf some mportance,partof Limousin amily hichhad had a minorristocraticitle ndconnections ith heroyalhouse ince he ixteenthentury.71ne ofhis eading uccessors as thebarondeBagge, he onof seigneurtthe court fSaxe-Gotha-MeiningenhosettlednParisabout1750,published number fstring uartets, nd hostedone of the best-knownmusical alons nthe ity.72 noperacomique alledLa melo-manie,writtenn 1781with hebaron upposedlynmind, lattersimfor iking little-known usic la musique are)"andforhis earning("Monsieur,vous etessavant!")butshowshim o "possessed ythedemonmusic"thathe all butmarrieshisdaughter o an unknownItalianmusician.73hus did thesuspicion f musicas magicalanddemoniciveon. Ironicallynough, he core o the perettawasdedi-catednottoBaggehimselfutto thedaughterftheprince eConde,an amateurwho stood mong hemostprestigious usicalpatrons.Bythe 1770swecan see the firsttrong igns hat ommercialismwasreshapingheroles fpatrons. ytraditionherelations etweenpatron ndmusician adbeenpersonal, sually xclusive,nd absolu-tely lear nrespect ftheauthorityfthepatron.Bytheearlynine-teenth entury atronagewas developingntoa cash nexuswithoutexclusive tatus r residence. hechange amewithin he arger rans-formationfservants' olesat theendofthecentury,he decline n69Ibid., p. 17.70 [Mayeurde SaintPaul],Le volplus hautou l'espiondesprincipaux hedtresela capitale,p. 26.71 GeorgesCucuel,La Poupliniere t amusiquedechambre u XVlllesiecle Paris,191 ), pp. 3-6.He has often eenrepresented, istakenly,s a member fa "rising"middle lass;for survey f uchproblems,eeW.Weber, The MuddleoftheMiddleClasses",Nineteenth-Centuryusic,iii 1979), pp. 175-85.72 G. Cucuel, "Un melomane u XVIIIe siecle: e baronde Bagge et son temps",Anneemusicale, ( 191 ), pp. 145-86.73Grenier sic],La melomanie,nCollectiondes thedtresrancais: uitedu reper-toire, 1 vols. Senlis,1829), xxxii, p. I85-224.

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their tatusand distancing rom heirmasters, ut somemusiciansendedup muchbetter ff han thebutler r the maidbecausetheylearned owelltomarket heir kills ndtheirmusic.74Thesechanges ameearly nFrancebecause thecentralization fmusical ifeunder tate uspices nd theweak musical eadership fLouis XV madepatronageess of a guiding ocialprinciplehan nItalyorEngland.The tabulation fpatronsnthe wodecadesbeforetherevolutionhows hatmusiciansweremoving reelyromnepat-ron'shousehold o another, ithern residence r simply upport.75Diderot'sLe neveu deRameau,though highlydiosyncraticork,displayshenew ndependencefmusiciansn ts rstwhileharacter:"I amalwaysn a hurry", e confidesothe uthor, andif amkeptwaiting moment shout s though ambeing obbed".76Patrons ontributedustas muchto thechange, ince as musicalentrepreneursheywished o reduce hecostofdomesticupportndinvest n thecareers fnumerousmusicians.At the sametime,how-ever, hey id notneedmusicians s permanentlients s much s be-fore ecauseofthegrowthfthepublishingndustry.s AnikDevrieshasshown, uringhemid-eighteenthentury ublishershiftedheiroutputfromndividualworks oeditions,oweekly rmonthlyab-loids of sheet musicsoldbysubscription hichprovided regularstaple fmusic or omesticmusic-making.77nce aidedbythe nven-tion f ithography,he ndustry astoturn heframeworkfmusicaltaste opsy-turvy.Two types f connoisseursame from he ranks fgensde lettres:aestheticiansndgeneralwriters. hemusical estheticiansisplayconsistentocialprofilentheir ackground; hough onehadmajoraristocraticitles, irtuallyll came from hetraditionallites ctivein ntellectualife. The one woman amongthem,Anne LefebvreDacier,was a scholarnher wnright.Manyofthe estheticians ereinorders t somepointntheir areers,mostnotably harlesBatteux,Jean-Baptisteubos, FrancoisCartaudde La Villate,NoelAntoinePlucheandFrancoisdeChateauneuf. thers ame from amilies c-tive nparlements Lecerf e la Vieville, ouis BolliouddeMermet,JacquesBonnet, ouisCahusac andPierre-Francoisesfontaines.fewhad careers nthemilitaryrdiplomaticorps Francois-Jean74Judith ick, "Musician andMecene: Some Observationsn Patronage nLateEighteenth-Centuryrance",Internat.Rev. Aesthetics nd SociologyofMusic, iv(1973), PP. 245-56;CissieFairchilds,Masters and Servants nEighteenth-CenturyToulouse",Jl.Social Hist.,xii 1979), pp. 368-93.

75Chastel,"Etfide ur a vie musicale Paris",p. 144.76Denis Diderot,Rameau's Nephew,trans.L. W. Tancock (Harmondsworth,1966),p. 6I. See DanielHeartz,"Diderotet etheatreyrique: e nouveaustile'pro-pose parLe neveudeRameau",Revue demusicologie,xiv 1978), pp. 229-52. BytheI830s Parishad byfarthemost ommercializedmusicworld n Europe;seeWeber,Music and theMiddleClass,ch. 3, "The High-Status opular-Music ublic".77Devris, Editionetcommerce e la musiquegraveedParis,passim.




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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCEChastelleux nd Antoine-Augustine la Martiniere.None seemstohavehadanythingesemblingbusiness areer.78 heirbackgroundthereforeoughlypproximateshatof members fprovincialcad-emies, houghwith somewhat reater lerical epresentation.79ordidpublicistsorm artofthispatrician roup.Jeand'AlembertndJean-Jacquesousseau ameclose,butmost f heirwritingsn musichad either practical r a polemical lant which ended o separatethem rom ruditepeculationsn e bon ozit.80Only few fthe es-theticians eem to have had extensivemusicaltraining r to haveplayed hemecenenmusical ife.Theprincipal xception as Michel-Paul deChabanon, manof eisurewhopassedthrough Jesuitdu-cation, echnical tudy fmusic,performancen theviolin, ndhis-torical nd aestheticwriting.81We can presume hatthe aestheticians ad a readershipt leastroughly imilar n social statusand education.These peoplewouldcount mong hereaders ftheJournal essavants ndtheJournal eTrevoux,bothof whichpublished requentrticles n musictheoryand aesthetics,ssuming xtensive lassical education. t was them,notmusicians,o whomRameauaddressed istheoretical orks.82The most mportantoleperformedytheaestheticians as to be-stow heblessingsfthe lassical raditionponmusical ctivity.nsodoing hey ried oprovide n intellectualegitimacyo whatwasanessentially orldly orm fentertainment.veniftheir peculationsaboutGreekmusic ontributedittle othemusic f their ime,t re-lated musical ife o themainstreamfFrenchearning. heydid,ofcourse, onceive f music n terms ow often houghtxternal o the

78 Toussaint Remondde la Mard, however,s reputed o have beenthesonof anecuyer r a fermier-general.ee "T. Remondde la Mard", inBiographicuniversellc,ancienne tmoderne, 2 vols. Paris, 1811-62),xli,p. 966.79See Daniel Roche, N6goce tculture ans a France u XVIIIesicle", Revue deI'histoiremoderne tcontemporaine,xv I978), pp. 375-96;Daniel Roche, Milieuxacad6miquesprovinciaux t soci6etdes lumieres",Livre et societe, i (1965), pp.93-I83; Daniel Roche,"Encyclop6distestacademiciens", ivre etsociete, i 1970),pp. 73-92.80The Memoires ecretsofBachaumont,forexample, dentified ousseau as amusiciann 1762,noting hathisnewDictionnaire e la musique skedquestions n-usuallyprofound or a member f thatprofession:Bachaumont t al.],Memoiressecrets,ii,p. 310 ( o Dec. 1762). Extraordinarilynough,Rousseau's ntermede,edevinduvillage,wastheonlywork erformedttheOperabefore 774whichwas notswept ut of therepertoirenthechange-overfthe I770S.81M.-P. deChabanon,Tableau dequelquesconsiderationse ma vie Paris,1795).He doesnot,however,ppeartohave been a majorpatron.

82 In the ntroductiono hisTraitedemusique heorique tpratique Paris, 1737),pp. 5-6,Rameauflatteredisreaders y saying hatfor hemmusicwas not ust"anart of amusement orwhich aste s concerned nlywithproducingnd judging ro-ductions",which s actually ustwhatmost onnoisseurs ere nterestedn.One re-viewer alledthe tatementa tasteless nd false ncomium" nd asked"whatwill llthesegrand peculations o for dancer?": see [Guyot-Desfontainesed.)],Observa-tions ur es ecrits itteraires,,pp.73, 84.

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art, erms erived rom hedoctrine hat rtmust mitate ature; heirframe f reference asessentiallyhatof iterature,otmusic nandofitself.AsWalterRex has pointed ut,thephilosophes skedthatmusic, s the servant f thetext,make an imitationfnature wiceremoved an imitationf n imitation.83 utthey oulddolittle lseina periodwhenmusic idnothave tsown esthetics;incemusicwasstrictly contemporaryrt, tscommentatorsad todrawupontheprinciplesftheother rts.The aestheticianslsohelped ogiveFrenchmusical ife senseofits ownhistory, contribution hich, hough imitedn itsscope,pointed head to the historicismf thenineteenthentury. heirvauntedauthorityn Frenchculturemay helpto explainwhytheAcademieRoyalede Musiquecontinued operformmanyoperasbyLullyandhissuccessorsfter heir eaths.The music fLullywas apolitical henomenonntheeighteenthenturynmany f the amewaysas Robert sherwood as shown t to have beenin the seven-teenth.84 ostof theaestheticiansctedas apologists or he artisticorder nstalled yLouis eGrand;they ulogized ullyalongwiththough ot qualto- CorneillendRacine, ndtherebyavemusicprominent lace in the French ulturalpantheon.While n hisowntime ullywas known s an arriviste,y1746an aestheticianuch sBollioudde Mermetpokeonlyofthecomposer's reatness,ndthisopinion ontinuedo hold waydespite rowing ublicboredomwiththetragedies lyriques. he authorityfthe connoisseur s judgeoftastewascentral o hishistoricalensibility:Now the timewhenLully ived, hatgreatLully,and several thers,was the timewhenmusic,ntheopinion fconnoisseurs,pproached he losest ogoodtaste, othat truebeingwhichnever ges ... It is theduty f skilled onnoisseurs o raisetheir oices gainst asteless ustoms:t s for he cademies oprotecthe ffortsfpartisans fgoodtaste.85His notion fthe onnoisseurs theprotectorfgreatmusic rom hepastwas oneofthemostmportantrecedentsor henineteenthen-tury'sducated mateurs thedevoteesfBeethoven whowere ogivemusical ife tsown classical radition.In other espectshe estheticians erefaroutof tepwithgeneraltaste.Foronethinghey ad ittlenterestn nstrumentalusic, ro-bably hemost apidly evelopingreaofeighteenth-centuryusical83WalterRex,"A Proposof theFigure fMusic ntheFrontispieceftheEncyclo-pedie: Theoriesof Musical Imitationn d'Alembert, ousseauand Diderot" forth-coming n Proceedings f theTwelfth ongress f the nternationalMusicologicalSociety,Berkeley 977). For discussion f the dominance f literary ver musicalaesthetics,eeSnyders, e goutmusical nFrance uxXVIIeetXVIIIesiecles, assim.84 Isherwood,Music inServiceoftheKing,passim;R. M. Isherwood,The ThirdWar of the Musical Enlightenment",tudies in Eighteenth-Centuryulture, v( 975), PP. 223-45.85BolliouddeMermet, e la corruptionugoit dans a musiquefrancaise,p.41,53. See also Bonnet,Histoirede la musique t de seseffets,,pp. 297, 306-7; L. Jau-court], Florence", nEncyclopedie, i,p. 877.




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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCElife. Sincefewof theaestheticians ere activeas patrons, heyhadlittle astefor he onataandresentedtsgrowingopularity.ernardFontenelle ascreditedwith bonmot boutthe arlykeyboardon-ata, "Sonate, que me veux-tu?",whichWalter Rex has graciouslytranslateds "Sonata,what syourproblem?".86n 1772a writerntheSpectateurfrancais took issue with him:

"Sonate,que meveux-tu?",wrote ontenelle. he minuets,hetrios, he andantesofSchobert espond ohim: I want opossessmyselffyour eelingsnd ntoxicatemyselfwithyourpleasures; want to experience our ensibilitynd accompanyyour oul in its deliciousmovements".87Foranotherhing,o mostpeople heoperahad ittle o do with heconnoisseurs'deas:to them t wasunspectacle, powerfulxperienceoffantasy-likeets,uxuriantounds, ompetitiveingersnddancers,and an intense ocial experience. he reverence or the librettonaesthetichinkingrew lot of okes, he mostfamous f whichwasthatRameau supposedlyaid he could set the Gazettede France tomusic ustas well as HippolytetAricie.88 omments nwhatpeoplesaw nthe peragiveusa betterense fgeneral aste hanwritingsnle bongozut.n I699 onewriter aidbluntlyhat he"natural nhabi-tants"oftheoperawere a little izarre" nd that reasoningsrareamong hesepeople".89He described heoccasion:Theopera, s I havesaid, san enchantedourney;t s theplaceofmetamorphoses;... there n thetwinklingf an eyemenposeas demigods,nd goddesses ecomehuman;there hetraveller oesnothave thepainofcrossing hecountry, or hecountry assesbefore ne'seyes; herewithoutteppingutonepassesfrom ne endoftheworld o theother, rom hefires f hell to theElysianfields. o yougrowbored n thedesert?A moment aterputsyou n the and ofthegods;another ndyouare inthe and of the fairies.90When n 1768directorsftheoperaaskedfor uggestionsor mottotoplaceover hedoor f heir ewhall,one M. Le ClercdeMontmeroysent nsome ineswhichwererejected ecause helpfullyorus) they

were houghtmore f a descriptionhan an inscription:The arts n thispalace produce heirmarvels,To enchanthearts, yes ndears.In thisbrilliant alaceof thearts nd fairies,Heroes,gods,demons, ll thesediverse eings,Set tothechords fmodernOrpheans,All are themoving ainting fthisvast universe.9186 Rex, op. cit.87 Quoted inJournalde musiquepar une societedes amateurs, (I773), no. 6,pp. 70-I. Johann chobertwas a German omposer esidentnParis,known orwrit-ingeasymusicfor mateurs.Barry . Brookhas shown he richness f nstrumentalmusic omposed rperformednParis and argely gnored y many hilosophesinhisLa symphoniefrancaiseans a secondemoitie u XVIII esicle.88[La Porte ed.)],Almanachdesspectacles eParis,xx 177 I), p. 39; Chevrier,esridicules u siecle,pp. 38-9.89CharlesDufresny, musementserieux tcomiques Amsterdam,699), p. 32.90Ibid.,p. 30.91[Bachaumont tal.],Memoires ecrets,v,p. I27 (30 Sept. 1768).

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These passagesrevealhowclosely heoperafunctioned,s films rtelevision o today, s meansbywhichpeoplecould take themselvesby fantasyntofar-offlacesorimaginary orlds.Writers fmusicalcommentary,he secondtypeofconnoisseur,were lsogensde lettres,uttheyknewmore boutmusic nd stoodmuch loser o thegeneral ublic hanthe aestheticians.heirpubli-cations overed wide pectrumf dioms: ibrettos,eportsnspec-tacles,handbooks nmusic nd thetheatre, racts n recentmusicalevents, nd a plethora fchansons, s well as their arger utput fplays,novels and the like. Though some of themtoucheduponaesthetic uestions, heirmain concernwas farmorepragmaticndoriented owards hepublic han hat f itteratears hodebatedwhatGreekmusicwaslike. ftheywrote orournalst was more ften ortheMercure de France than theJournal de Trevoux.They performeda variety f roles n musical ife incemanywrote or he yric nddramatic heatres.We owe to RobertDarntonrecognitionf thesignificancef suchwriters.92n musical ifetheir ocialand professionaltatusrangedwidely romhat fgentleman riteroworkaday ublicist. t he opendof he cale toodJacques-BernardureydeNoinville, horetiredfromhe arlementt Metz todevote imselfo iterature,roducinghandbook-likeistoryf the Paris opera,and the manabouttownMontadourNeufville e Brunaubois,who left militaryareertowrite acynovels,ight erse, nd a eulogy oa soprano.93 ore com-monly, owever,hese ensde ettres ere Grub Street"writersuchas Darntonhas shown xisted n theperipheryf the iterary orld.Joseph e La Porte, or xample, riginally Jesuitnd an editor fseveraliteraryournals,ustained imselfypublishingpectacles eParis,annualguidebooks ywhich oncert- ndtheatre-goersoundout aboutthe season's events n thecity.Alsotypical f Darnton'sfailed hilosophes asPierreRemond eSainte-Albine1699-1778),playwrighthohad a quiteunexaltedob as royal ensor nd editedthe Gazettede France for wenty-fiveears.He wrotemost f there-ports nmusic nd theatrentheMercure e France whileheeditedthe journal between 1749 and 175i, and probably in otheryears aswell.That the onof twodomesticsnan aristocratic ouseholdwentsofar nmusical ommentaryhows onsiderableocialfluiditymongthiskind fconnoisseur.9492Darnton, The High EnlightenmentndtheLow-Life fLiteraturenPre-Revo-lutionary rance".

93 J.-B.DureydeNoinville, istoire u thdetreel'Academie oyaledeMusiqueenFrance,2ndedn.,2vols. Paris,1757);M. Neufville eBrunaubois, ettre u sujetdela rentrdee Mile. Le Maure d l'Opera (Brussels,1740).94RobertDarntonkindly rovidedme witha sketch fRemondde Saint-Albinefrom olicerecords. ee Dictionnaire es ournalistes,d.J.Sgard Grenoble, 976),p. 333;Mercure eFrance,Feb. 1750,p. 185;Histoire ene'rale e apressefrancaise,ed. C. Bellanger tal., 3 vols. Paris, 1969), ,pp. 164, 189, 19 -3.




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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCEEventhoughwriters falmanacs ndmagazinereports elated othegeneralpublicmore losely hantheaestheticians,heyhadtheir

ownprofessionalife s lesser ensde lettresndapproachedmusicaleventswith uchconsiderationsnmind.The querelledes bouffonswas n argepart heir wnquarrel.While ome f hepamphleteersonot eem ohave had iteraryareers, ensde ettresetupthedisputeand used t tofight attleswith achother, herebyarning certainresentmentrom he rest of thepublic.95We hear as much fromFrancois-Antoinehevrier, writer fgossipy ovels ndessayswholiked omake attacks n hiscolleagues. hough violently pposed othe talian tyle, eadvisedhisreaders o take hewholedisputewithgrainof salt. "What results rom hese uarrels",he declared, is aconfusion hich roubles urpleasures,nd which oes harm o bothparties,he French] artisanss much s theultramontane".96ll nall, he concluded, there remore omplacent eoplethanconnois-seurs nParis".97Nonetheless hegensde lettres n the Italian side,Rousseau es-pecially, ssumed posture s connoisseursarmore ndependentfthepublic hanhad been he ase inmusical ffairs efore. he GrubStreet-like riters rominentn thedispute cted muchas Darntonhas shown hey id ater nthe entury,ressingheregimet tsweakpoints ndraising harpnewpublic ssues.AbbeFrancoisRaguenethad acquireda tastefor talianmusiconlyas a sideinterestwhilestudyingrchitecturenRome;he ssaid tohaveretracted any fhisargumentsor heforeigntylewhenhefaced irulentppositionponreturningome.98 ousseau,however, sedthe ffair f1752-4 nthemanner f an intellectualntrepreneur.avingbroken ntoParisianliteraryife ypeddling newmethod fmusicalnotation, emadehisnamein Parisduring hequerellebecause hewas the most xtremepolemicistfthem ll -"notre grand onnaisseur", s Freronputit.99Rousseauapproached hatand laterdisputes s a professionalpublicist, ot s a gentlemancholar, nd brokewith he deathat heconnoisseurhould nform,otmanipulate,hepublic. n sodoinghebegan a powerful radition f intellectual ctivismn musical ifewhose ater haptersncluded heGluck-Piccinniispute f he 770s,controversyver talianoperaduring he I830s, and theWagnerianmovement rom850 onwards.

95For a collection fpamphletsnd dentificationfauthors,eeQuerelledesbouf-fons,ed. Launay.96Chevrier, bservations ur e theatrerancais, . 72.97Ibid.,p. 74.98Raguenet,A Comparisonbetween heFrench and Italian Operas; "FrancoisRaguenet", nBiographieuniverselle,ncienne tmoderne, li,pp.476-7.99E. C. Freron, ettres ur a musiquefrancaisenreponse celledeJ.-J. ousseau(Geneva,1754),p. 17. See LesterCrocker,Jean-Jacquesousseau,2vols. NewYork,1968), ,pp. 140-3.

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Certain fRousseau's deason aesthetics oreshadow breakdownin theunity fgeneral aste. n hisarticle n "Gouit" ntheSupple-ment o theEncyclopedie eargued hat here xists "general asteuponwhich ll thosewellpreparedbienorganises)willagree".Hedefined uch a public n an elitistmanner s only"ears sufficientlytrained, f people sufficientlynstructed".'00n conceiving f anespecially nowledgeablendtastefulubliche foreshadowedhede-votees fBeethoven ndWagner,who oldmembersfthepublicwhatthey ught o isten oand askedfor strictertiquettenpublichalls.Viewing he differencesetween onnoisseurs e might sk howthey omparewith he rtpatronsn talyduringhe eventeenthndeighteenthenturies hatFrancisHaskellhas studied.'10 few imi-larities re clear.Bothacted s earlykinds fagents rcritics,apaci-tieswhich would later fall intoprofessional ands,and exercisedsimilar oles s intermediariesetween cholars ndthe arger ublic.In whatthe VenetianFrancescoAlgarotti id forTiepolo,and LaPouplinieredid forRameau despitetendencies f conformismamongtheir essercolleagues we can see the enlightenedastepossible nder heoldorder fpatronage.Butthe rtpatron, ypossessing gallery,ould ontrol ublic asteina waythat hemusical onnoisseurouldnot.Choosing paintingwasmore f a privatematterhan hoosing concertofar lessanopera. nmusical ifepatronageffectedheaccustomed leasures ftheupper lasses armore irectlyhan nart; s a public ursuitnanage ofprivilege,musicaltaste had to come from he audienceas awhole.Theartpatron,moreover, asoften oth patron nd a writeranddrew uthorityromhe classical raditionf critical mulation.Music and letters id not cohabit hateasily; n thisfield esthetic,practical ndpatron'snterests ent heir eparateways, ndhistoryprovided ew common ssumptions.t is instructivehatwhileAl-garotti onceived f hisgallery s a museum f ancients nd mod-erns and didground-breakingorkon Florentine rimitives,nhisEssai sur l'opera he said nothing ifferentrom nyothermusicalessayist; espoke he anguage fcontemporaryaste.102Musicalconnoisseurscted, hen, nly sthefirstmong hepower-fulmany.The authorityhey eldandtheways nwhich hey elatedto thewidermusicpublic ellus a lot about the stateof mindwhichgovernedmusical aste.Musical learningwas respected ut not de-manded;peopleassumed hatone could listen n a widevariety f

100[Jean-Jacques ousseau],"Gout", in Supplement l'encyclopedie,ii,p. 234.SimilarlyGrimm ppliedthe dea of theenlightenedhilosophe o themusical on-noisseurnLettredeM. Grimm urOmphale Paris, 1752), pp. 36-7.101Haskell,Patrons ndPainters; . Haskell,RediscoveriesnArt:SomeAspects fTaste,FashionsandCollectingnEnglandand France London, I976).102 F. Algarotti, aggio sopral'opera in musica n.p., I755), trans.ChevalierdeChastelleux s Essai sur 'opera Paris, I773).




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MUSICAL TASTE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCElevels nd with ery ifferenturposes. incemusical nstitutionsereplacesofgeneral esort,udgementf tastewasa privilegefall per-sons n theupper rders. acking true lassical radition, usical ifehadno ntelligentsia,o earned litedominatingublic aste. f itera-turehad a "republic f etters",musichad onlyconnaisseurs,ftenthought retendus.Within hat ontext, owever,many onnoisseursleda serious ndartisticallyiscerning usical ife.Even f omposerscouldnotacquire mmortality,teppingnto hepantheon fancientartists, e shouldnotdismissheworld orwhich heywrote s desir-ousonlyofbackgroundmusic.The social upheavalswhichchallenged he preceptof privilegeacrossEuropeatthe ndofthe ighteenthenturyemoved neofthemost mportantases in the social structure f musical aste.Asthepublicceased to be a united, nchallengeableuthority,earned ndgeneralmusical astewent heir eparateways. By I850 two sets ofalien musicalvalues viedwithone another: everence orthe now"classical" musicofHaydn,Mozartand Beethoven,nd thirst orlight, ontemporaryunescalled "salon" or even"popular"music.Once theauthorityftheclassicaltradition adbeenquestioned yRomanticmovements, usic cquired learned raditionqual insta-ture o thatoftheother rts,based nconservatoiresnd thefield fmusicology. he moreserious onnoisseurs ame into theirown asspokesmenor hisnewtradition,elping ofound ymphonyrches-tras,givingoncerts strictertiquettend earned rogrammeotes,and becomingmusiccriticswithpowerfulntellectualuthority.nplace of thepolymorphoustructureftastes nd values there p-peareda setofhierarchiesankingisteners,musicalforms,nd thepurposes fmusical xperience.Musical ifenow ookedupwards-the ength fthese mposing ierarchiesand backwards to itsnew-foundlassicalpast.CaliforniaState University, ong Beach

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WilliamWeber