Estienne: Cum invocarem, ChG. 69

Description

The Centre de musique baroque de Versailles is publishing an unpublished motet, Cum invocarem , by François Estienne, a composer from the Aix-en-Provence school – like André Campra and Jean Gilles – whose source comes from the library of the Académie des beaux-arts de Lyon and bears the stamp of its rival, the short-lived Académie des Jacobains.

Was the Cum invocarem composed specifically for the first Concerts that were created in Lyon? Was it an earlier work, composed by Estienne for one of the cathedrals that employed him? Was it played for the ceremony of the Vow for the health of the king or Salut du 8 août, instituted in Lyon from 1721, in memory of the recovery of the young Louis XV? This work raises questions for the first time about the status of the Motet à grand chœur genre, at a time when it is undergoing a sudden and unprecedented transformation, destined for a new audience and new forms of interpretation. Bénédicte Hertz, the volume's editor, presents a facet of her innovative work on the Concert Academies at the beginning of the 18th century that sheds new light on this repertoire, at the origin of the public concert.

Archival sources allow us to estimate the numbers needed to perform the Cum invocarem: 5 soloists (Dessus, haute-contre, taille, 2 basses), a 5-piece French-style choir (Dessus, hautes-contre, taille, basse-taille and basse) and a woodwind and string orchestra (2 or 3 oboes and flutes, 2 or 3 bassoons, 10 or 11 Dessus violins, 3 hautes-contre and taille violins, 7 or 8 basse violins, 1 or 2 double basses).