ClerambaultCantates

The Cantatas of Louis Nicholas ClérambaultAuthor(s): David TunleySource: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 3 (Jul., 1966), pp. 313-331Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3085960Accessed: 22/05/2010 23:08

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THE CANTATAS OF

LOUIS NICHOLAS CLERAMBAULT

By DAVID TUNLEY

The cantata, like opera, was late in taking root in French soil. In the case of the former nearly a century was to elapse before French

composers followed the example of the Italians, by which time Ales- sandro Scarlatti was bringing the cantata to its height. A direct imita- tion of Italian models, the cantatefranGaise, unlike the tragedie lyrique, did not evolve through the transformation of an existing national

form, but was born, so to speak, fully fledged. Thus some of its earliest

examples are, at the same time, the most highly developed. Despite the existence of Charpentier's Orphee descendant aux enfers, which Crussard' dates from about 1683, the French cantata was essentially an 18th-century form, and during the first thirty years of the century most of the leading composers of the day (with the notable exception of Couperin) contributed to its repertory. The names of Rameau, Bla-

mont, Bernier, Campra, Destouches, Mont6clair, are among the hundred or more that appear in its published pages, but contemporary opinion unanimously awarded the palm to Louis Nicholas Clerambault

(1676-1749), organiste de la Maison Royale a St. Cyr and at St.

Sulpice in Paris. Clerambault's cantata output was not large, however. He published

twenty-five of them, twenty of which are to be found in his five books of cantates franGaises, described by Bukofzer as "the most valuable French contributions to the cantata."2 The Bibliotheque Nationale

Claude Crussard, Un Musicien franqais oublie-Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Paris, 1945, pp. 17-18.

2 Manfred Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era, New York, 1947, p. 258.

313

THE CANTATAS OF


By DAVID TUNLEY











313

THE CANTATAS OF


By DAVID TUNLEY











313

THE CANTATAS OF


By DAVID TUNLEY











313

The Musical Quarterly The Musical Quarterly The Musical Quarterly The Musical Quarterly

possesses, in addition, two manuscript collections that include several unpublished cantatas attributed to Clerambault3 and a couple of trifles that are in reality airs a boire. It is with the five books of collected cantatas that this article will primarily deal.

The cantatas found in this collection are:







Book One(1710) L'Amour pique par une abeille Le Jaloux Orphee Polipheme Medge L'Amour et Baccus

Book Two (1713) Alphee et Arethuse Leandre et Hero La Musette' Pirame et Tisbe Pigmalion Le Triomphe de la Paix

Book Three(1716) Apollon Zephire et Flore L'Ile de Delos La Mort d'Hercule

Book Four (1720) L'Amour gueri par l'amour Apollon et Doris

Book Five (1720) Clitie Les Forges de Vulcuin
















soprano & b.c. contralto, violin, b.c. soprano, violin, flute, b.c. bass, violin, flute, b.c. soprano, violins, flute, b.c. soprano, bass, b.c.

soprano, flute or violle recitante, b.c. soprano, flutes, violins, bass viol, b.c. soprano, musette (or violin), b.c. contralto, flutes, violins, b.c. bass, flutes (or flute & violin), b.c. two sopranos, bass, violins, b.c.

soprano, flutes (or viol), violins, b.c. soprano, viol (or flutes), b.c. soprano, flutes, violins, b.c. bass, violins, b.c.

soprano, flute, violins, b.c. soprano, contralto, violin, b.c.

soprano, viol, b.c. bass, violins, flutes, b.c.
















Mythological subjects were characteristic of the French cantata, and it can be seen from the above list that Clerambault's texts were no exception. In only two of his separately published cantatas did he deviate from the classical themes (with the exception of several cantatas in praise of peace and the monarch)- in Abraham (1715), which was one of the few sacred cantatas in an essentially secular genre, and in his last cantata, published six years before his death in 1749. Having, apparently, forsaken the cantata for twenty-two years, he took up his pen again to write a work that sang of a subject unique in the whole repertory of the 18th-century French cantata-that of freemasonry. Written at a time when the cantata as a form had degenerated into the shorter cantatille, Les Francs Mascons (1743) was a remarkable Janus-

3Catalogue numbers Ms. Fr. D14883 and D2728.







314 314 314 314

The Cantatas of Clkrambault The Cantatas of Clkrambault The Cantatas of Clkrambault The Cantatas of Clkrambault

faced work, for it looked back some thirty years to the best musical traditions of the form, while its text, breathing a kind of revolutionary fervor, looked some thirty years ahead. The remaining cantatas, published separately, were Le Bouclier de Minerve (1714), La Muse de

l'Opera (1716), and Le Soleil vainqueur des nuages (1721). The latter two cantatas, by their scoring alone, seem to shatter the spirit of in-

timacy that is one of the features of the cantate franqaise, and signifi- cantly enough, Le Soleil was described by the Mercure de France4 as a divertissement allegorique, although the score reads cantate allegorique sur le retablissement de la sante du Roy. Scored for soprano solo, oboes, flute, violins, basse de violon, bassoon, and continuo, it was first performed at the Opera in 1721 and later at Court. Two further

performances were recorded by the Mercure de France, these taking place at Philidor's concerts at the Tuileries5 on December 6, 1728, and October 27, 1729. La Muse de l'Opera (ou les caractWres liriques) in- vokes some of the stock operatic characters and situations (Mars, Diana and the hunters, shepherds, storms, sleep, etc.) to the accom- paniment of appropriate music. The score calls for soprano solo, flute, violins, trumpet, drums, basses de viol, and continuo.

The polarity of French and Italian musical styles in the 17th and 18th centuries is a subject so often discussed by modern scholars that, in a short study of this kind, it would seem superfluous to add more words to the mountain of articles that already threatens the earlier period's reputation for dissertation-writing on the same subject. Yet a few remarks are necessary for, in a sense, the cantate franqaise grew from the controversy. Or at least, it blossomed in the same atmosphere.

Through their contact with Rome, it was natural that some of the most enthusiastic supporters of Italian music belonged to the Church. In the mid-17th century, criticisms of French "timidity" in music had been made by Abbe Mersenne and Prieur Maugars, while later in- fluential devotees had included Abbe Raguenet and Abbe Mathieu. Raguenet's Parallele had appeared four years before J. B. Morin's first book of cantates franqaises in 1706 (although according tQ his Preface, these works had been circulating in manuscript for a good many years) and, as we shall see in Orphee, his criticisms of French composers who "think themselves undone if they offended in the least

Mercure de France, Dec. 1728. 5 For a description of these concerts and their programs see the present writer's Philidor's

Concerts Francais, in Music Letters, April 1966.

























315 315 315 315


against the rules"6 must have stung Clerambault into writing passages of the utmost boldness and intensity. The concerts given by Abbe Mathieu in his presbytery at Saint Andre des Arts in Paris are reputed to have been the most important source of the dissemination of Italian music in late 17th-century France. Looking back to the changes that had come over French music at the turn of the century through the infiltration of music from the south, one musician wrote: "All the concerts changed: scenes and symphonies taken from the opera gave way to the new preference for sonatas. M. Morin, following the example of the Italians, produced his cantates franfaises, and next appeared those

by Bernier, Clerambault, and Battistin. M. Dornel and M. Dandrieux,

organists, wrote trio sonatas."7 The same source mentions that it was at Mathieu's presbytery that

a Corelli sonata was heard in Paris for the first time, stimulating a desire on the part of such celebrated French instrumentalists as Rebel the elder to emulate its more brilliant style. Thus the music of certain French composers begins to exhibit the driving rhythms characteristic of the trio sonata and the concerto grosso, violinistic figuration that owes much to Corelli, instrumental-like vocal passages built upon patterned sixteenth notes, and a more intense expression arising from bolder harmonies.

Morin explains in the preface to his first book of cantatas his aim in attempting to write a new kind of French music based upon Italian

practice. Several years ago, I planned to compose, if our language vWould permit it, that

kind of mlusic gellerally known in Italy as cantatas, in which poetry is set to recitatives and arias. Several of my works enjoyed success in various places, but as manu-

script copies usually contain errors, it has been suggested that I publish this volume. Some people have expressed the hope that the novelty of this kind of music will please the public, most of whom do not fully enjoy Italian music because they do not under- stand the words.

I have done all that I can to retain the sweetness of our French style of melody, which I have accompanied in various ways that display those rhythms and modula- tions characteristic of the Italian cantata. ..

His words became a kind of manifesto that seemed to proclaim the

coming of a new era in French music, and many composers indeed echoed his ideas implicitly in their music and, sometimes, explicitly

6 Francois Raguenet, Parallele des Italiens et des Franqais (1702), transl. by Oliver Strunk in Source Readings in Music History, New York, 1950, p. 477.

7 Quoted by the Mercure de France, Nov. 1753, from Corrette's Le Maitre de clavecin pour I'accompagnement, Paris, 1753.








































316 316 316 316

The Cantatas of Clrambault The Cantatas of Clrambault The Cantatas of Clrambault The Cantatas of Clrambault

in their own prefaces. Such a conscious fusion of styles was not, of course, limited to the cantatefranqaise, although it is here that we find some of its most striking manifestations. In particular it is found in the cantatas of Clerambault.

Clerambault's first cantata, L'Amour pique par une abeille ("Love [or Cupid] stung by a bee"), is a delightful introduction to his art. In this work a witty text is wedded to music of the utmost delicacy and charm. At its climax, when Cupid, who has been stung while smelling a flower, cries out in pain, his mother, Venus, moralizes as she heals his wound:

Charmant vainqueur tu nous exposes a des maux Cent fois plus pressants, Par les peines que tu ressens, Juge des maux que tu nous causes. Tes traits, puissant Dieu des Amours Font ressentir des peines plus cruelles, Ils portent dans les coeurs mille atteintes mortelles Que tu ne gueris pas toujours.8

It is not often, however, that the poetry is as charming as this even though the cantata was considered as much a poetic form as a musical one. (The Mercure de France, for example, regularly published cantata poetry throughout the greater part of the century, to be tasted first as a literary delicacy and then offered to composers. One is never quite sure whether the words a mettre en musique, which were often found at the end of the text, were placed there hopefully or patronizingly.) L'Amour pique par une abeille begins with a description of that ro- mantic dream-world whose boundaries are glimpsed in Watteau's celebrated painting L'Embarquement pour Cythere:

Dan les Jardins enchantes de Cythere, Venus rassembloit les amours; La froide indifference et la raison severe De ces aimables lieux sont bannis pour toujours. ..

Sous les loix de la jeune Flore Un eternal printems enchaine les Zephirs, Et les fleurs qu'on y voit eclore Sont l'ouvrage de leurs soupirs. Les ruisseaux amoureux mellent leur doux murmure

8 "Charming conqueror, who makes us targets for wounds a hundred times more distressing than yours, judge, by the pain you now feel, the agony you cause us. Your arrows, powerful God of Love, cause sharper pain. They pierce the heart with a thousand mortal wounds which you cannot always heal."






















317 317 317 317

318 The Musical Quarterly

Aux concerts des oyseaux qui chantent nuit et jour; Le soleil y repand une clarte plus pure Qu'il emprunte des feux que luy prete l'Amour.9

These quotations from the text have been made because they set the

stage for the cantatas that follow. The amorous "moral" at the end of

the work is fairly typical of the French cantata for, in the words of

the writer who first gave shape to this form of poetry, Jean-Baptiste Rousseau (1671-1741), the verses embodied une allegorie exacte.?'

Just as typical is the poetic setting of Cythere, which became for the

18th-century Frenchman a vision of a lover's Utopia where frivolity and sensuality had free reign. The spirit symbolized by Cythere is

fundamental to the cantate franqaise, and the word runs like a motif

throughout its repertory. Even in the years when the cantata was mere-

ly a relic of the past, poets still sighed of lovers caressing in its shade.

The Italian traits encountered in L'Amour pique par une abeille

include patterned sequences of sevenths such as the following passage, which underlines the word "chaines" ("chains") so pictorially:

Ex. 1

Gay

Les cha - - - - - (ne

IM n t , ij 1IJ

J 7 6 7 6_ 7 etc.

and these traits become more pronounced in the second cantata, Le

Jaloux. Here are found brilliant instrumental passages such as the

following: Ex. 2

Vif Violon I - ,. . A 4 -














Ex. 1

Gay

Les cha - - - - - (ne

IM n t , ij 1IJ

J 7 6 7 6_ 7 etc.



following: Ex. 2















Ex. 1

Gay

Les cha - - - - - (ne

IM n t , ij 1IJ

J 7 6 7 6_ 7 etc.



following: Ex. 2















Ex. 1

Gay

Les cha - - - - - (ne

IM n t , ij 1IJ

J 7 6 7 6_ 7 etc.



following: Ex. 2


i . - .- '-~''-'-j - 1 rrT '

6 6 6 , 5 5

9"In the enchanted gardens of Cythera, Venus gathered together the Cupids; cold reserve

and stern judgment are banished forever from these delightful places. By the rules oi the young Flora, an eternal spring detains the gentle breezes, and the flowers that bloom there are the off-

spring of their sighs. The gentle, loving murmur oi the streams mingles with the concerts of the

birds who sing night and day; the sun shines with a brighter light borrowed from the fires that

love lends."

10 Quoted in the Preface to Bachelier, Recueil de Cantates, The Hague, 1728.

i . - .- '-~''-'-j - 1 rrT '

6 6 6 , 5 5





love lends."


i . - .- '-~''-'-j - 1 rrT '

6 6 6 , 5 5





love lends."


i . - .- '-~''-'-j - 1 rrT '

6 6 6 , 5 5





love lends."


The Cantatas of Clrambault 319 The Cantatas of Clrambault 319 The Cantatas of Clrambault 319 The Cantatas of Clrambault 319

~7~CL I

6 6 4 3 3

In the same work Clerambault exhibits his mastery of the ground bass. In the majority of the cantatas, most of the brisk airs are accompanied by ostinato-like figures which are very freely treated, but in Le Jaloux we find the sole example in the five books of a strict ground bass. The figure (Ex. 3) is repeated eleven times with a shift to the dominant minor in the middle, and the vocal part is skillfully constructed to avoid a sectionalized and short-winded form.

Ex. 3 Lentement

6 6 7 S 6 6 6 $

It is when we turn to the next cantata, Orphee, that we find, however, not just the outward trappings of the Italian style but its very spirit.

Orphee became Clerambault's most celebrated work-in fact, the most admired French cantata of the century. That it was parodied a number of times was in itself a mark of esteem, for as the Mercure de France pointed out in its review of Grandval's parody of the same work: "This does not claim to be a criticism of it, and still less is it written in derision. It is meant to show how the most beautiful and the most serious works can be given a humorous turn."11

The heart of the work is where Orpheus pleads with Pluto to release Euridice. In an arioso-like section, Clerambault's expression rises to

" Mercure de France, July 1729.

~7~CL I

6 6 4 3 3


Ex. 3 Lentement

6 6 7 S 6 6 6 $





~7~CL I

6 6 4 3 3


Ex. 3 Lentement

6 6 7 S 6 6 6 $





~7~CL I

6 6 4 3 3


Ex. 3 Lentement

6 6 7 S 6 6 6 $





320 The Musical Quarterly Ex. 4

Fort lentement + Flute, Violin Fl.

(a?,r"'T i- T] Vn. r

1?$"?2 j. J> ' r^s - J- r+ +

Lais - ses vous toucher. par mes pleurs, lais - ses

?e J - IJ IJ - I J I

7 $

*'K L r [

r- r r Vr H11K I,r - - r-H vous tou-cher par mes pleurs D'un sort af-

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7 9 7 5+

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: L.btlr -1le ~ r I- r n] freux re- pa - res le ca - pri - ce Ren - des

7;# #. I I , r J I ..- J _ 67 6 7 6

:P _ - i I i. I l

v". F ~ .F' r dorx F r moy ma cher-e Eu-ri - di - ce Ne se-pa - res pas nos deuxcoeurs.

? rf.1. r- ! -

4i j j I J I 6 6 6 6 9 8 4

5 7 6

("Let my tears move you: make amends for the whims of a hideous fate: Give me back my dear Euridice; do not separate two loving hearts.")




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The Cantatas of Clerambault The Cantatas of Clerambault The Cantatas of Clerambault The Cantatas of Clerambault

an intensity and passion that refutes the age-old charge of French

timidity in music. Eight years before the publication of this work Ra-

guenet had admired the Italian composer who could write

passages of such an extent as will perfectly confound his auditors at first, and upon such irregular tones as shall instil a terror as well as surprise into the audience, who will immediately conclude that the whole concert is degenerating into a dreadful dis-

sonance; and betraying 'em by that means into a concern for the music, which seems to be upon the brink of ruin, he immediately reconciles 'em by such regular cadences that everyone is surprised to see harmony rising again, in a manner out of discord itself and owing its greatest beauties to those irregularities which seemed to threaten its destruction. 2

He may well have been talking of the French composer of the fol-

lowing example. In this section of Clerambault's masterpiece, the biting dissonance of the falsely related A$ and AU at the words d'un sort af: freux ("of a hideous fate")-and here it should be noted that the dis- sonant appoggiatura was probably sung as a long note-and the

impassioned, unresolved chord played by the continuo at the repeat of the words laisses vous toucher par mes pleurs ("let my tears move

you") are as bold and effective as any music of the period. The passage is so striking that it must be quoted in its entirety (Ex 4).

Similar words ("Ah, rendes moy votre presence") in the next cantata, Poliphemne, again draw from Clerambault some very moving music even though it does not quite match Orphee in originality. The fifth cantata, Medee, is in many respects the most Italianate cantata in the book from the point of view of its vocal melismas, its fiery violinistic passage-work and its rhythmic vivacity. Its first air is like a miniature concerto. The "ritornello" theme (Ex. 5) crowns each vocal climax, provides much of the material for development, and is the driv-

ing force of a movement that dances its way from the first note to the last.

Ex. 5 Vivement et viste

Violin

6=* b n J I -j J -

J|JiJ J J _ J _ _

t

6 6 6 etc. 5













Violin

6=* b n J I -j J -

J|JiJ J J _ J _ _

t

6 6 6 etc. 5













Violin

6=* b n J I -j J -

J|JiJ J J _ J _ _

t

6 6 6 etc. 5













Violin

6=* b n J I -j J -

J|JiJ J J _ J _ _

t

6 6 6 etc. 5

U Op. ci., p. 477. U Op. ci., p. 477. U Op. ci., p. 477. U Op. ci., p. 477.

321 321 321 321


The first book closes with a cantata brimming with enchanting melody. It is Amour et Baccus, set for soprano, bass, and continuo. The God of Love and the God of Wine each claims the greater power over man, finally pledging one another's support. In this cantata it would not be exaggerating to claim that Clerambault gives us a wealth of lyrical writing that would grace the best pages in Handel.

Book Two appeared three years later (1713) and was dedicated to the Duke of Bavaria. Its contents confirm the impression already gained from the first book that Clerambault had indeed mastered the Italian style while retaining the rhetorical eloquence and delicate charm of his own French tradition. Rather than take each cantata in the book by turn, it has been thought preferable to illustrate this remark by reference to some of the more striking passages encountered in them.

The second cantata, Leandre et Hero, begins with a ritournelle, the first but not the last time that Clerambault uses this term. With its

three-part scoring (for violin, flute, and continuo) in which the upper parts expand their material in a texture of imitative counterpoint whose entwined suspensions curl about the steady tread of the bass, this could indeed be the slow movement of a trio sonata. It is, in fact, an extended prelude to the opening recitatif mesur-- a kind of arioso style. As in many of Clerambault's recitatives introduced by extended instrumental movements, the voice takes over the opening phrase of the prelude, and in this particular one soars to expressive heights, as in the following passage where, after an anguished chord at "qu'elle separe," the chordal progression seems to fight its way to the cadence.

Ex. 6

0 b .6.. + ~ + _f . . . ..

Peux - tu souf-frir A-mour, qu'el-le se - pa - re Deux coeurs que tu veux ren-dreheu-reux?

>S1; r er' )Tl r rJ } b 7 2 +2 $ 6

+5 4

("O Cupid, can you suffer the sea to part two loving hearts that you wish to bless?' )

The same term, ritournelle, is used again in this cantata at the head of another movement. On this occasion, however, it refers not merely to the prelude, but to the music that accompanies and frames the sections of an air fort tendre. Its exquisite tone-painting (Ex. 7) aptly illustrates the scene where Leandre is swimming through the calm sea to meet his beloved Hero.





Ex. 6

0 b .6.. + ~ + _f . . . ..


>S1; r er' )Tl r rJ } b 7 2 +2 $ 6

+5 4







Ex. 6

0 b .6.. + ~ + _f . . . ..


>S1; r er' )Tl r rJ } b 7 2 +2 $ 6

+5 4







Ex. 6

0 b .6.. + ~ + _f . . . ..


>S1; r er' )Tl r rJ } b 7 2 +2 $ 6

+5 4



322 322 322 322

The Cantatas of Clkrambault 323 Ex. 7a

(Fort doucement) Flutes and Violins

> LJ _rJ I Ir r TI T) i -fJ i Dieu des Mers, sus-pen - dez l'in - con - stan - ce de

bJ j i J I I I I f I'r' 7 6 $ 7 6

4 4

'J j J I - i rT r Ii- ----- l'on - de Cal - mez les vents im-pe-tu - eux

- TJ Jl J iJ i Ij~'l' ' l ir- t 3 sX 3 7 6 $ 6 64 4 5 ---- 3 etc.

("O God of the Seas, hold in check the restless wave, calm the violent winds." )

Un peu plus gaiement et tendrement Vn. solo

~- 1 l6r-'9 i l:t~'Lb' ir k,ffi,a -i.j lPi'?l IJ$

Vo-lez, vo-lez, ten - dres_ Z - phirs. (continuo .tacet)

("Blow, gentle breezes.")

The tempest that is to claim Leandre's life is portrayed, as in so many storm scenes in early music, more by angry gestures than by harmonic effects, and in the extended movement (Tempeste), which acts as a prelude to a recitative, Clerambault directs that the instrumental forces of violins, flutes, and continuo (clavecin and contre- basse) be strengthened by a basse de viollewhich is given an independent part.




bJ j i J I I I I f I'r' 7 6 $ 7 6

4 4












bJ j i J I I I I f I'r' 7 6 $ 7 6

4 4












bJ j i J I I I I f I'r' 7 6 $ 7 6

4 4










Another masterpiece from the second book, Pirame et Tisbe, is cast in the same expressive mold as Orphee and Leandre et Hero. Like the

others, it is full of variety. On the one hand, there are such honeyed phrases as this introduction to an air by Tisbe, who draws upon it for her own melody (Ex. 8),

Ex. 8 Gracieusement et gai

Simphonie I I iJ ~ '!l _"J _~. ; ,~

.$ j r Ir r i r ir r LIJ rx1 r J ,- , 6 7_ 6 5 - +4 6

$ tffi- irrrrfrrirrfrrr., rr'ri Sl J I

7 r TJ It ^ J J ir .r r rjI IL 6 4 6 9 6 6- 4 3 5

and on the other hand, the heart-rending plainte that sets the mood for the scene where Pirame discovers the blood-soaked veil and sings of his grief at the thought of Tisbe's fate (Ex. 9). Ex. 9

Lentement

,? r 1 f I a.. I r ! r 1 r ! D

Flutes I

Flutes II (or a Violin)

jPi - I - IS ~ri r $ [; r I r 1

7b , J 1 J |i f r F f I 2I r t l H +4 6 +4 6 b7 +2 4 b

Following the plainte comes Pirame's recitative, Quoi! Tisbe tu n'es

plus? ("What! Tisbe, thou art no longer living?"), which is continu-

ally interrupted by short interludes. In the following interlude the ex-

pression of utterly overwhelming sorrow (despite the slender scoring) completely justifies Clerambault's bold transgression of the "rules"- the simultaneous false relations and the leap from the resulting discord.










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The Cantatas of Clrambault The Cantatas of Clrambault The Cantatas of Clrambault The Cantatas of Clrambault

Ex. 10 Flutes

Violin and Clavecin

S?? I dI J J I 67 6 7 6

Over the closing scene of the two dead lovers the "moral" is sung, but in this case it is really a reproach to the God of Love who could allow such tragedy to strike two of his most zealous subjects.

In the company of Alphee et Arethuse, Lkandre et Hero, Pirame et Tisbe, and Pigmalion, the third cantata, La Musette, is slight indeed. Nevertheless, it was one of Clerambault's most popular works and remained in the public's affection for a good many years, as shown by its four performances at Philidor's concerts in the Tuileries in 1728. The poem concerns the shepherd Mirtel who, after fretting over the absence of Amarillis, tries to forget his loneliness by inviting the shepherds to join him in some merrymaking. Then follows the movement that certainly led to the title of the cantata, and probably to its success. It is a rondeau in which the singer is joined by a musette (or in the regrettable absence of this charming bagpipe, a solo violin), and in phrases that recall the delightful naivete of traditional chansons enfantines, the song (see Ex. 13) brings the cantata to a close. Of no great consequence musically, the rondeau is, nevertheless, very interesting formally and will be referred to in some general remarks on the composer's style at the end of this study. The first air of the cantata displays some unusual touches. In progressions where one expects a 6 chord, Clerambault often replaces it with a 6 chord, lending a certain rustic gaucherie to the harmony.

Le Triomphe de la Paix for two sopranos, bass, violins, and continuo, in which the composer shows his mastery of concerted writing, brings the second book to a spectacular close. We are left in no doubt that the composer's high reputation was well earned.

It comes, therefore, as something of a shock to find that the cantatas of the third book (1716) appear to have lost that vivid imagin- ation and boldness characteristic of the first two volumes. Are his powers failing? Certainly there are only four cantatas in the third book (and in the later ones only two apiece). Yet on the evidence of two other cantatas written during the same period (but published separ-

Ex. 10 Flutes

Violin and Clavecin

S?? I dI J J I 67 6 7 6





Ex. 10 Flutes

Violin and Clavecin

S?? I dI J J I 67 6 7 6





Ex. 10 Flutes

Violin and Clavecin

S?? I dI J J I 67 6 7 6





325 325 325 325


ately), Abraham and Le Bouclier de Minerve, the composer was far from facing a musical decline. The overwhelming impression of the third book is that the Italian traits have given way to the French, and that the cantatas look back to the Lullyan tradition of the previous century. It is the writer's belief that it is not unreasonable to see in these cantatas a tactful gesture by a musician employed in the Royal Household -not a slackening of talent. At the time of their composition a compliment to the aging monarch, they duly became, at the time of their publication, a salute to his memory. The preface reveals their origin: "The success of these cantatas when they were performed before the King has led the public to wish to have them for themselves. To satisfy this desire has been the motive in presenting this third book, although I have only four completed cantatas. I hope they will be received as favorably as the previous ones."

The book commences with a cantata pour le Roy entitled Apollon-- cantate sur la paix and in it the following words extravagantly praise the King:

Heros des Siecles passes, C'est par nous qu'on vous revere.

Fuyez, disparoissez, Un Jour plus brillant nous eclaire, Louis, vous a tous effacez."

To guard against any possible Italianate interpretation of these words which are the climax of the cantata, the performer is reminded by a rubric printed at the head of the movement of the convention that distinguished le goift franqais from le gott italien - Toutes les croches ou il y a des points dessus doivent estre egales, et les autres inegales (i.e. "all the quarters marked with dots above them must be played evenly, and the others unevenly"). It is interesting to note that in the cantatas of the earlier books there are very often directions to play the notes egales but never inegales. The work is, not unexpectedly, dull stuff with such a text, but the cantata does contain a poised melody (Doux repos) recalling the autumnal beauty of Lully's celebrated Bois epais.

It is not without significance that of all the cantatas of Clerambault those in the third book do not appear to have received the boundless praise of the more Italianate ones and, certainly, none of them were

"Heroes of past ages, it is through us that you are honored. Begone! Vanish! A more brilliant day shines on us. Louis, you surpass all!






















326 326 326 326

Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris

Title page of Clerambault's First Book of Cantatas








First page of Clerambault's cantata Orphee








performed at Philidor's concerts franqais. One cannot help feeling that

something of the stiff formality of the court has crept into the music. It is therefore with greater pleasure that one turns to the fourth book, published in 1720 at the height of the Regency, and finds that Cleram- bault's fire has been rekindled in the two cantatas that make up this volume. This is clear at once in L'Amour gueri par l'amour ("Love cured by love"), whose opening air is cast in the following chromatic

style: Ex. 11

Tres lent fort tendrement Violin + .I.--__ '



style: Ex. 11




style: Ex. 11




style: Ex. 11


gm1 I o I J. j ' i I 11

I S i r l4r IJr tp I^ It Souf - frez plain - tiv - e Phi- lo - me - le

; * I J IJ Ij J I,J

gm1 I o I J. j ' i I 11


; * I J IJ Ij J I,J

gm1 I o I J. j ' i I 11


; * I J IJ Ij J I,J

gm1 I o I J. j ' i I 11


; * I J IJ Ij J I,J ^N I F - TR - 7

, 9 8 l7 3 2 , +4 etc.

("Plaintive Philomel, [ let me mingle my cries with your sad notes].")

Apollon et Doris, set for soprano, contralto, violin, and continuo, contains, among other impressive movements, a duet in which the following striking approach to the cadential formula is found: Ex. 12

De mouvement et marque -^A A 4i Doris ..

^N I F - TR - 7 , 9 8 l7 3 2 , +4 etc.




^N I F - TR - 7 , 9 8 l7 3 2 , +4 etc.




^N I F - TR - 7 , 9 8 l7 3 2 , +4 etc.




r=r ri r rrr iLJ IIt' Tu ter - nis la vic-toi - - re Quand tu les rends-- con-tens.

Apollon

Tu ter - nis la vic-toi - - re Quand tu les rends_ con-tens.

rIFr rtl I r irtr rc-J *J ii<J I


Apollon




Apollon




Apollon


rIFr rtl I r irtr rc-J *J ii<J I -1% 0 I ' I

6 6 5 -

6- 9__--- X 9- 3 7 , * 44 4

("[Cupid, inconstant lovers do disservice to your name, and] when you give them happiness you spoil your victory.")

Clerambault's final book was published six years later, by which time the Regency had ended and the court had moved from Paris back to Versailles, although it can hardly be said that society followed it.

-1% 0 I ' I

6 6 5 -

6- 9__--- X 9- 3 7 , * 44 4



-1% 0 I ' I

6 6 5 -

6- 9__--- X 9- 3 7 , * 44 4



-1% 0 I ' I

6 6 5 -

6- 9__--- X 9- 3 7 , * 44 4



II II II II

327 327 327 327


The fifth book of cantatas was dedicated to the new Queen, who was reputed to be fond of music and who, according to the Duc de Luynes," played several instruments "indifferently." "The Queen says she loves music, and indeed there are some operas which please her, as well as some petits airs for the viol; but she likes cavagnole better. .."15

Certainly, some twenty years later the Queen was to support the Italian cause in la guerre des bouffons, but, as is often pointed out, Italian music in the middle of the century was a very different matter from that in vogue at the beginning. Music a la Serva padrona was not the style that had stimulated the cantate franqaise in its early days. Do we detect in this book another tactful gesture to accommodate the taste of a patron? It is tempting to follow this line of thought, but so speculative is it that it must suffice to say that the cantatas are pleasant enough melodically and could well have appealed to the woman who was so taken by the directness and simplicity of Pergolesi's famous opera buffa twenty years later. It is hard to resist pointing out that the first cantata of the collection, Clitie, is scored for soprano, viol, and continuo, suggesting that the Queen's passion for petits airs de viol noted by the Duc de Luynes in 1746 may have been lifelong and fed by Clerambault as far back as 1726, when this final book appeared. Despite the "period charm" of the two cantatas, it is doubtful whether they contain those elusive qualities that raise any work above the limitations of its particular style.

Les Forges de Vulcain then brings the five volumes of Clerambault's cantatas to a close, and while it is less subtle musically than the work, L'Amour pique par une abeille, that opens the collection, nevertheless the first and the last works are joined together by that literary thread mentioned earlier in this study- CythWre. Les Forges de Vulcain commences with a scene portraying the noise, darkness, and stifling heat of the interior of the mountain (Mt. Etna) where the cyclops are forg- ing their metal. Hardly the place for love, one would imagine! But, behold...

Dans ce triste sejour Que jamais le soleil n 'claire point, La Reine de Cythere et sa brillante cour.. . .

4 Due de Luynes, Mimoires, posthumously published Paris, 1864, I, 29. ? Ibid., VII, 265. Cavagnole is a game like lotto.

" ("In this unhappy place which the sun never lights, the Queen of Cythera and her da77ling court. . ." )



















328 328 328 328


Darkness is transformed by the rosy light shed by the world of Cythere.

Within a form that is founded basically upon the alternation of aria and recitative (dances and choruses, for example, are quite ex-

ceptional and belong to the tradition of the divertissement), Cleram- bault achieves a remarkable formal variety. It should be noted that the emotional climax is sometimes towards the center of the cantata and sometimles towards the end, and may be found in either the recitative (generally mesure) or in the air. As well as the changes of in- strumentation within a single cantata, on two occasions (Orphee and Medee) Clerambault lightens the continuo texture by shifting the key- board part up an octave and replacing the bass viol with a violin. Incidentally, this precludes these two works from being sung by a tenor voice since it would dip below the lowest line and mar the lrar- monic progressions.

As might be expected in a form that sprang from Italian practice, the majority of airs in Clerambault's collection were cast in the ABA mold, either as da capo arias (sometimes modified, especially in the later books, where he seems fond of shortening the first section at its repeat) or some kind of unsectionalized form with a ternary flavor. In fact, of the 67 solo airs in the five books, 56 belong to this general category. AB form is found only 11 times (in airs and ensembles) and there is one example of the rondeau. Most of the airs are introduced by short preludes (very often just the opening vocal melody or a variant of it in the bass line of the continuo) but sometimes the prelude assumes the proportions of an independent movement. Despite the variety of expression and texture in the airs, the internal shape of the first section of Clerambault's da capo arias is fairly stereo- typed. The opening vocal phrase is almost invariably repeated (either in toto or extended or modified in some way) following a short instrumental interruption. Clerambault probably borrowed the idea from some 17th-century Italian composers, although the Italians were certainly not addicted to this habit. Interestingly enough, this procedure rarely happens in the slower-moving airs that Cklrambault writes in le gout frangais. Here, when a repetition occurs, it tends to be a repetition of a complete period or a long-flowing melody. In his more Italianate airs, the repetition near the opening of the movement is more likely to be that of a short phrase that lends itself to extension and development.













329 329 329 329


If tlhe internal form of the airs in le gout italien is rather stereo- typed, on the other hand the sole example of the rondeau does show Clerambault's ability to handle a simple form imaginatively. The rondeau in La Musette is a combination of rondo and da capo forms which is framed by an introduction that is repeated at the end to form a postlude. The musical material evolves almost entirely from the introduction, whose three ideas have been marked x, y, z, in the following example: Ex. 13

Gai X Musette )

j l-r frIrlrL ir LfirL '-f I I 4trgir r irir r r SH ri1^ EJ

y z 0 + +

f=4 f r i r fT r If : I j

da Capo

The movement is laid out in the following way:


Gai X Musette )


y z 0 + +


da Capo



Gai X Musette )


y z 0 + +


da Capo



Gai X Musette )


y z 0 + +


da Capo


A1 (Introduction) A2 B A2 C

A3 D


A3 D


A3 D


A3 D

x,y,z x,y, (y modified) short new idea x,y, (y modified) extension of B, plus reference to z z,x new material falling into three sections




musette, b.c. voice, musette, b.c. voice, b.c. voice, musette, b.c. voice, musette, b.c.

musette, b.c. a) voice, b.c.; b) musette, b.c.; c ) voice, musette, b.c.







Da capo (without Introduction) A2 as before B 9) . A2 ," "




C A1 C A1 C A1 C A1 (x,y,z) (x,y,z) (x,y,z) (x,y,z)

as before as before as before as before

(musette, b.c.) (musette, b.c.) (musette, b.c.) (musette, b.c.)

Rondo form was a happy choice for this fairly extensive movement, for the musette was confined to the key of C. It joins in the "chorus" and some of the episodes, but in those that modulate it is silent.

Apart from his harmonic boldness when the need arose, the most

striking aspect of Clerambault's style is the shapely span of his melody










330 330 330 330

The Cantatas of Clerambault 331

and bass lines. Writing at a time when the long strands of Baroque texture were dissolving into the short-winded phrases of the Rococo, Clerambault was old-fashioned enough to delight in drawing out long lines of melody. He seemed to think naturally in terms of six-, seven-, and eight-measure phrases (Ex. 8 illustrates this perfectly). Yet, at the same time, his habit of rounding off his phrases by a trilled cadence, like a formal courtly bow, marks him as a man of his own time and society.

A short study of this kind is bound to be somewhat frustrating for those who wish to explore further Clerambault's vocal music, for only a small handful of cantatas has been published in modern times. How- ever, it is hoped that this article may at least help confirm the reputation that Clerambault enjoyed in his own day, and now enjoys in several modern histories of music. It is the present writer's belief that, with some exceptions, Clerambault's five books of cantates franqaises are a repository of neglected masterpieces.










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