Isabelle His

«Sous lesquels ont esté mises des paroles morales»: Un cas de contrafactum de psaumes entre 1598 et 1618

In 1618, the printer Pierre Ballard published two false-twin volumes of music entitled Dodecacorde. One was devoted to twelve French psalms already published at La Rochelle twenty years earlier (the same year the Edict of Nantes was signed), based on the translations by Marot and de Beze that were disseminated in the Huguenot Psalter. The other contained the same music, but with paroles morales treating devout subjects characteristic of the beginning of the seventeenth century. In both cases, the music is by the Huguenot Claude Le Jeune, who died in 1600 with the title of Composer of the Royal Chamber of King Henry IV. In general, the «contrafactum» practice concerns light or obscene repertory, in which expurgation or purification of the texts is the goal. This case is more unusual : the original Biblical texts, because of their Huguenot associations, have become disturbing. The alternative moral version aims to touch more devout souls. Faithful to the spirit of the Edict of Nantes, Ballard offers the same music with two texts, one tending towards the Protestant camp, the other towards the Counter-Reform camp. However, changing the text raises numerous problems, particularly because of the famous Huguenot melodies that are used as «cantus firmus» material in the polyphony. Therefore, the Huguenot connotations of the original corpus survive despite the alteration of the texts. This exceptional double publication was never re-edited, but another similar work by Le Jeune, the Octonaires, enjoyed longer lived success : their Calvinist poems, rather similar to the paroles morales, are suitable for both religions and fit better with Le Jeunes subtle polyphony.

Italianism and Claude Le Jeune

In section iii of his paper ‘ Ut musica poesis ’, Howard Mayer Brown remarked upon Italian musical presence in France in three main areas: music theory, techniques of composition and interpretation, and poetry. The works of Claude Le Jeune ( c. 1530–1600) seem to me to illustrate his comments in a particularly striking fashion, and although my study of Italian influence on Le Jeunes work is incomplete, I think it is possible to make some preliminary observations.