Lorimer, Elena Madeleine. 2002. A critical edition and translation of Benigne de Bacilly's Remarques curieuses sur l'art de bien chanteur (1668). Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis]

Preview

Text (A critical edition and translation of Benigne de Bacilly's Remarques curieuses sur l'art de bien chanteur (1668)) GOL_thesis_LorimerE_2002.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (23MB) | Preview

Abstract or Description

My aim is to provide a critical study and new translation with musical examples of Benigne de Bacilly's Remarques curie uses (1668). This is the most comprehensive treatise on French seventeenth-century vocal performance practice. It is a unique guide to pronunciation and quantity in French declamation, which formed the basis of Bacilly's singing technique, practised by the leading contemporary singers in Paris. Bacilly also provided the most detailed descriptions for this period of vocal ornaments and embellishments.

Although the only English translation (1968) provided many of the musical examples to which Bacilly referred the reader, it was inaccurate in many areas and failed to address textual ambiguities. Bacilly's descriptions of ornaments in particular have caused disagreement among modem scholars. This new translation therefore includes a text-specific critical analysis in the form of footnote annotations and editorial examples to address obscurities at precise points in the text. A glossary listing French terms, which include Bacilly's technical terms, is provided at the end of the translation and Bacilly's revealing and previously un-translated 1679 'Discours qui sert de reponse a la critique de l'art de chanter' is presented in English as an appendix.

There is no comprehensive study of the text and context of the Remarques. An extensive contextual essay therefore introduces the present translation. Firstly, this provides a biography of Bacilly and a study of his patrons and milieu. It goes on to examine the type and structure of the poetry discussed in Part 1 of the Remarques, then the repertoire to which the treatise is relevant, mostly through Bacilly's own published works. It also assesses Bacilly's treatment of singing as a branch of rhetoric, with an analysis of the role of pronunciation and quantity as well as that of ornamentation as a rhetorical device, and finally considers the contemporary and modem reception of the treatise. In addition to musical sources and treatises, this edition uses seventeenth century literary sources and a wide range of secondary sources to provide the broader contextual approach that Bacilly's treatise has so far lacked.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Identification Number (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.25602/GOLD.00033854
Keywords:	critical study, translation, text-specific analysis, biography
Date:	2002
Item ID:	33854
Date Deposited:	26 Jul 2023 13:39
Last Modified:	08 Aug 2023 15:16
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/33854

View statistics for this item...

Edit Record (login required)