Music & Letters, Vol.61, No.3/4 (Jul.-Oct.,1980), pp.

318-337

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRENCH AND

ITALIAN SINGING: RAMEAU'S WRITING
FOR THE VOICE
BvMARvCvR

The talents of Rameau, J élyo ttc and Fel are worthy indeed of being
joined together. In ali likclihood, postcrity will scarccly mention one
witho ut spcaking of the other two.'

THROUGHOUT Ra meau 's opera tic career, two singers reigned

wi thou t eq ua! on the Pa ris o pera stage: Pierre J élyotte and Yiarie
Fel. Ram eau fas hioned nearly ali of his leading ra ies to suit the
specifie cha racteristics of their unique voices . Studies of these and
other eighteenth-century singers have concentra ted on their
biographies! With the aid of direct evidence from eighteenth-
century performers, however, it is possible to recover something of
the expressive s tyle of singing Rameau heard and admired. Among
voca l instruction ma nuals of the period, J ean-Antoine Bérard 's
L 'Art du chant holds particular importance, for Bérard himself sang
in severa! of Ra m eau's works. Two new sources, ma nuscript copies
of vocal raies with annotations by singers, amplify Bérard 's
comments a nd provide rare insights about· ornamentation and the
declamation of recitative.
The singing of sorne French a rtists was considera bi y indebted to
the ltalian style, for Italian music and performers enjoyed
increa sing popula rity in Paris during the early eighteenth century.
French a udiences had ample opportunity to hear na tive Ita lia n
singers at the C oncert Spirituel a nd in other concerts at the homes
of wea lthy pa trons.' Before their performances became popular in
Paris, however , Italian singers had regularly participated in
performances a t court; indeed , their presence can be traced back to •
the reigns of Louis XII and Fra nçois I. U nd er the last Va lois kings
they became m ore prominen t, a nd they were commonly employed

1
Louis de Cahusac, 'Chanteur', Encyclopédie, ou Diclionnairt raisonné des sciences, des arts el
des métiers, vii (Berne & La usanne, 1782), 254.
' Among the mos t importa nt stud ies of eightecnth-century French si ngers arc thosc by
J .-G. Prod'homme: ' M a rie Fel ( 1713-1794)', Sammtlbiindt der i111tmalio~~alm Musikgesellschajt,
iv ( 1902-3), 485-518; ' Pierre de j élyottc ( 1713-1797)', ibid. , iii ( 190 1-2), 686-717; 'A Pastel
by LaT our: M arie Fel', The M usical Quarter/y, ix (1923), 482-507. Sec also Ma rtial T eneo,
' Marie Fel', in J. -P. Ra meau, Oeuvres complètes, xviii (Paris, 1924), lxxix-lxxxiii. A valuable
biographical source including cighteenth-century archiva i documents is Emil Campardon ,
L'Académie royale dt musique, Pa ris, 1884. T he most thorough study of the singers to date is
Arthu r Pougin, Pierre ji/yollt el les chanteurs de son lemps, Paris, 1905.
'See Lowell Lindgren, ' Parisian Patronage of Performers from the Royal Academy of
Musick (17 19-28)', Music & Ltllers, lviii (1977), 4-28.
during the early years of the reign of Louis XIV: Among those who
gained particular fame during the early eighteenth century were
the castrato Antonio Paccini' and Hyacinthe [Giacinto?] y{azza,
the two singers for whom François Couperin wrote' the florid
soprano duet ' Misericordia et veritas' in the mote t performed a t
Versailles in 1704." Both si ngers served the court for nearly 30
years. LaBorde praised the extraordinary ' légèreté' of Paccini 's
v01ce:

Paccini was received into th e King's Music at the beginning of this

century. He had a charming soprano voice, of an inconcciva ble
lightness. LaLande composed most of the récits in his motets for this
musician, who was able to rendcr them perfectly. His great talent ,
together with his good looks, brought him fortune in more than one
way. '

The pleasure of t he young Louis XV at Paccini's performance

assured him a long and s uccessful career, as the Duc de Luynes
later recalled:

14 February [ 1745], Versailles

Paccini died here two or threc days ago. H e was Italian and had been
in the King's Music for a long time; he was weil known for the beauty
of his voice. H e enjoycd an in come of 5 or 6,000 livres for his seryice to
the king.•

Italian singers found ardent supporters at co urt. Carlo Broschi,

called Farinelli, later became a favourite of the queen, who
sometimes invited him to perform with her." The Duc de Luynes ,
although not among the admirers of the style, found the I ta lian
virtuosi at !east intriguing:

8 February 1750 [the queen's concert]

Cossoni (Cuzzoni], the famous Ita lian singer, was there; she admi ts to
being 59, yet her voice is still in tune, agreeable and quite loud-and
she still trills too. Howevcr, one must admit that, although being in
style for 1talian music, this manner of singing has nothing th at pleases
.. . Moreover, those who heard her 25 years ago fou nd little, if any,
change in her voice.

' For detailed accounts of performers and productions by 1talian troupes a t the
instigation of Cardinal Maza rin, sec Henry Pruni èrcs, L 'Opéra italien en Franct avant Lulli,
Paris, 19 13.
; Antonio Paccini (not to be confused with Andrea Pacini, callcd ' Il Lucchcsino')
appcars in a chalk drawing by Watteau possibly rcpresenting a concert at the home of Pierre
Crozat on 30 Septernber 1720; sec Lindg ren, op. cit., p. 9.
6
Oeuvres complètes, xi (Paris, 1932), 138-41.
1
Jean Benjamin de LaBorde, Essai sur la musique ancienne et moderne, Paris, 1780, iii.524.
8
:'liorbert Dufourcq, La M usique à la cour de Louis XIV et de Louis X V d'après les mémoires ile
Sourches et Luynes, 1681-1758, Paris, 1970, p. 85. For an account of Paccini singing in 1722 see
Portraits intimes du dixhuitième siècle, ed. Edmond & Jules de Goncourt, Paris, 191 3, p. 17.
9
See the memoirs of the Duc de Luynes, 21 july 1752: ' La Reine qui est chez elle à jouer
de clavecin avec Farinelli ... .' (Dufourcq, op. cit.. p. ISO).
 9 June 1750
1 forgot to note that two or three weeks ago an ltalian singer came to
Versailles who used to have a great reputation; she is named Faustine.
She is actually 53 or 54 ... Musical connaisseurs say that she still has
a n unusual lightness of voice for her age, and that in truth she
surpasses Cossoni, of whom 1 have already spoken; sorne even say she
surpasses Farinelli.

13 J une 1753
Last week Mme la Da uphine heard an ltalian singer who seems to
have a great reputatio n. He is attached to the King of the two Sicilies;
he is named Cafarelli, and seemed to be a bout 35 or 40; he sings
pleasing ly, and has a sweet [douce] voice of a wide range. The
supporters of French music have trouble becoming accustomed to the
style of ltalian music. I have never heard Farinelli; those who have
heard him say that he is much better than Cafarelli.

18 July 1758
Mme la D auphine knew music very weil; she sang and played the
harpsichord, but she knew only I ta lian music. 10

Farinelli was credited by Burney with the single-handed conquest

of French tas te in favour of the Italian style, " though, despite the
enthusiasm a t court, not ali French listeners were willing to accord
immediate approval to the castra ti. Gradually, however, their
unusual timbre converted m any listeners. As Charles DeBrosses
wrote during his stay in ltflily, ' Il faut être accoutumé a ces voix d e
cas trats pour les goûter'.
With the increasing popularity of I talian performers in Paris,
the best Fren ch singers as weil were applauded for their ability to
sing in the I talian style. This they learned from Italian performers
who had settled in Paris, such as Madame Vanloo (C hristine
Somis). Da ughter of the Italian violinist Giovanni Battista Somis,
she h ad married the pain ter Carle Vanloo at Turin and had come
to Paris in 1733. D eBrosses praised particularly her mastery of
expression, 13 and M armontel later recalled: 'sa voix de rossignol
nous avait fait connaître les chants de l' Italie' ... Among her pupils
\·vas the you ng Ylarie Fel.
With its ligh t, agile quality, M arie Fel's voice was weil suited to
the ftorid Ita lian arias. Although she is not known to have visited
Italy, h er mastery of the Italian language and its musical
inftections a llowed comparisons with the fi nest I talian singers .
Recalling a performance of the celebrated castrato two months

10 Dufourcq, op. ciL , pp. 137, 140-4 1, 157. For. che earlier French appearanccs by

Cuzzoni co which the first passage probably .refers (and for .aborti:-'e .plans fo r o.chers), sec
Lmd~ren , op. en ., pp . 9 ff., esp. pp. 22-24, for Fausuna m Pa n s m 1728, 1b1d., p. 26.
1 Charles Burney, An E ighteenth-Century Musical Tour in France and !ta/y, cd. Percy A.

Scholes. Lo ndon, 1959, p. 154. Funher on Farinelli· in France, see Dufou rcq , op. ciL , p. 56,
and ':'\ouvelles d e la cour et de la ville', Recherches, x (1970). 105.
"Lettres fa milières icrites d'Italie t11 1739 tl 1740, ed. R. Colomb, Paris, n.d .. pp. 3 18-19.
" I bid. , p. 320.
" J ea n-Fra nçois ~l a rm o nt cl, M imoirts ( Oeuurts complètes, Pa ris, 18 19), i.359, 208.
earlier, one writer mused a ft er her performance of an 1talian air in
November 1736 that 'il semble qu' elle soit animée du goût et de
l'âme de Farinelli'.') Nearly twenty years la ter, it seem s that her
voice retained this exceptio nal quality. 'C'est un timbre d 'argent' ,
wrote the abbé d e la Porte, 'qu'on en juge par ce seul trait: elle
chant Italien e t le prononce comme Mlle Faustine quand elle était
bonne. '•• Melchior Grimm praised her clear articulation and wide
range in a letter to the abbé Rayn a l, editor of the Mercure de France:

When ... I speak of the manner in which Mlle Fel sings ltalian, I
didn' t mea n that she had made I-don't-know-what discoveries; I
simply meant that foreigners*-among others my compatriot Mr.
Hasse--find in her singing, in add ition to a very pleasing a rticula tion
and a very attractive expression, something original which, wi thout
being exact!y after the manner of our I ta lian voices, goes very well
wi th the character of this music; and if the au thor of the Remarks asks
what this origina l manner eonsists of, I should say tha t Mlle Fel owes
it to her voice, the most distinctive and even that I know. With a voice
of even purity and lightness she covers two and a half octa,·es; but
nature who accorr:led her this favour does so sparingly, and ordinary
voices are obliged to supplement it by art. "
*That is to say, Connaisseurs; for forcigners who proceed to spcak of music according to
[the stylp of] an air, have already decided before hearing it that a French voice, and
especially the foremost French voice, will sing ltalian music very badly. Since in this
case only the name shocks them, wc shall cali it hcnceforth , if they prefer it, the
European voice.

She sometimes perform ed 1 talian airs at the Concert Spi ri tu el,

such as Porpora's 'Senza la cara sposa'. '8 At a performance of
Mondonville's Carnaval du Parnasse in 1751 a 'grand air italien' was
added, and sung by Mlle F el:

... it is by Mr. Galappy [Galuppi], a famous Italian composer. This

air was much liked by connaisseurs and seems to have made a very
good impression on the public; it is true that Mlle Fel poured forth the
lightness, ornaments and precision that she brings to everything she
performs. The foreigners especially, accustomed only to this type of
music, seemed astonished at her pronunciation and at the skill with
which she characterized the delicate phrases of the ltalian music, at
the sam e time avoid ing the excess of affectation that sometimes takes
charge, even in the best I talian singers.
The perfection wi th which l\11lle Fel renders ali the runs in this sort
of music, and the embellishments which she hersclf adds to the !ines
that she performs, pres uppose in a French [singer] the most
unyielding work, and an exact and very extensive knowledge of the
subtleties and of the fundamentals of the art, as weil as a very ra re
facility. '"
" Dufourcq, 'Nouvelles d e la cour', p. 105.
6
' Pierre-Louis d 'Aquin [de Châteaulyon], Siècle littéraire dt Louis XV ou Lettres sur les
hommes illustres, i (Amsterdam , 1752), 174.
17
' Lettre de :'vl. Grimm sur les remarques au sujet de sa lettre d ' Omphale', Mercure dt
France, May 1752, pp. 187- 90.
'" Publishcd in Paris in 1737 as Air Italien avec accompagnement chanté au concert des Thuilltrits
[sic] et à l 'opéra par ,\.fadtmoistllt Fel (copy in the .Bibliothèque :'\ationale. Paris, V m' 635).
19
.11ercure dt France . .\lay 1751 , p. 185.

321
At the same p erforma n ce of Le Carnaval du Parnasse, as Florine in the
prologue, she sang an ariette with ltalian text whose coloratura
writing mus t have suited the Jigh t, even quality of her voice.
ln addition to her ability to perform rapid runs, she was able to
vary the timbre of her voice and perform l talian music with such
expression that even a rdent admirers of the French style were
forced ta concede:

... sh e showed precision, variety-all those delicate, li vel y ru ns that

are admired in ltaly and that she has forced us to adm ire in France.
H er voice, like Proteus, changed ali a t once, and passed from the light
to the pathetic. The most touching inftections succeeded the most
rapid runs. 20

Severa! composers were inspired ta write music for her, such as the
Spanish oboist ' Mr Plà', whose ltalian air she performed at the
Concert Spirituel in May 1752 . Accompanied by the composer, she
rendered the difficult ' traits d 'imitation et d 'assaut entre la voix et
l'instrument', and the audience found the performance 'ravissant
... rendus par l'organe le plus sonore, le plus flexible , et par un
hautbois qui rassemble presque à cet organe charmant, et peut-être
unique'!' Mondonville's concerto p erformed at the same con cert
attempted a n ew combination ofvoices and ins tru ments, and Mlle
Fel's ability to match even the difficult runs executed by a fine
violinist was stunning:

Mr. Mondonville imagined that a concerto wou ld be more agreea ble

(since it wo uld b e more varied ) if to the different instrum ents tha t
ordinarily perform it were added the different voices that corresp ond
to these instruments. H e proceedcd lo give a first part to violin a nd a
second part to a voice capable of imitating ali the instrumental
ru ns .... One need doubt nothing wit h Mlle Fel; she has this singular
type of voice, the securc performance, precision, a nd intelligen ce
necessary for such a p lan, and Mr. Gaviniés was the most fi tting
_violinist to accompa ny her. ... The connaisseurs ... affirmed the bold
performa nce of Mlle Fel, whose flexible voice lends itself so easily to
th e runs t ha t until th en were though t to be impossible fo r the voice.n

Rameau responded ta the wave of lta lianism that swept Paris

du ring the first ha lf of the eighteenth century. The Duc d e Luynes,
again showing little enthusiasm for ltalian music, nevertheless
_recognized Ra meau's novel a pproach:

Ramea u's music in general has a grea t many su pporters, a nd it must

be gra nted th at it is fu ll of harmony. The followers of L ully fi nd thal
Ramea u is somctimes pcculiar [singulier] and that a number of his
-" Ibid., Fcbruary 175 1, p. 187.
11
I bid., ~ay 1752, p. 180. Plà was one of the three brothers (don ~anuel , don .Juan and
don J osé), ali oboists and compoocrs. Severa! of their works survive in the Bibliothèque
:'\atio nale, but the aria for soprano and oboc sung by :\llle Fel is probably !ost.
~' .Htrcure dt Franet, :\lay 1752. pp. 182-3.
 works are in the Italian style: this is thejudgement that h is critics have
expressed about his operas which have appcared ; however, no one can
fail to admit that he is one of the grea test musicians we have! 3
His most thoroughly Italianate writing is found in the ariettes,
which often exhibit long vocalises, a wide range and constan t
triplet motion. Da capo form, three-part texture and instrumental
ritornellos dominated by a melody in the violins are also usual. H e
is known to have set an Ita lian text only once: the sprightly air
italien ' Fra le pupille', probably performed at a revival of Les Indes
galantes, 24 whose florid vocal writing culmin ates in a written-out
cadenza at the end of each section, in imita tion of those improvised
by ltalian virtuosi!' Another ariette gaie, from PLqtée, 'Amour, lance
tes traits ' ;• first sung by Marie Fel for the celebration of the
marriage of the Dauphin in 1745, a mounts to an exaggeration of
the Italian da capo manner, both in its long vocalises (no doubt in
response to the first line of its text) and in its dimensions (an ' A'
section of 92 bars and a ' B' section of only ni ne).
The d emand s of the ltalian style upon the performer were
many: clear articulation , flexibility in long and difficul t vocalises,
wide range, lightness and agility. Writers who compared French
and Italian music, however, usually found the former more difficult
to sing. D e Roch emont emphasized the performer's role in
expressing the m eaning of the tex t and music:
The French must b e such masters of their sounds that the manncr in
whic h t hey pass from one to the oth er , sustain them , a ugment or
diminish t hem, m ay prod uce and d etermine the impression that they
want to communicate."
DeBrosses, though a partisan of lta lian music, maintained a
preference for the French manner of singing and, like d e
Rochemont, stressed its subtle d ynamic nuance according to the
meaning of each word:
ltalian women 's voices are also of a simila r type to those o f the
castrati: light and flexible to th e last degree; in a word , they have the
same ch aracter as their music. D on 't ask fullncss [la rondeur] of them:
they don 't know wha t it is; d on' t speak ta th em a bout those ad mirable
sound s of our Fren ch music: swelled , sustain ed , swellcd again a nd
diminished by degree, on a single note; they would no more be capable
of understanding you tha n of performing such sounds.'"

Although DeBrosses d enies it, we know from Pier Fra ncesco Tos i~"
and other ltalian wri ters th at the son filé or messa di voce was weil
2
'Dufourcq, Musique à la cour, p. 107.
1
'Oeuvres complètes, vii ( 1902), 449-58.
" Frequently criticizcd by French writers for their lack ofvariety and tendency mere!y to
display the range of the singer; sec D eBrosses, Let/res, pp. 334-5.
26 Oeuvres complètes, xii ( 1907). 366-75.
17 R éflexions d'un patriote sur l'opérajrançois, et sur l'opéra italien. Lausanne, 1754, pp. 51-52.
8
' DeBrosses, Lettres, p. 319.
19 ObservatiollS on the Florid Song, trans. U. E.) Ga !liard, London , 1743, pp. 27-28.
known for its expressive value on long notes. DeBrosses seems to
suggest, however, that the degree of nuance and shading was far
greater in French singing and that the music demanded it. As for
the mysterious ' fullness' that ltalian voices lacked, perhaps
DeBrosses was referring to an even tone cultivated by ltalian
singers with little if any change of colour between registers; the
range demanded by most French music, on the contrary, was Jess
great and permitted changes of colour between registers combined
with these delicately nuanced sounds. Though perhaps not
exclusive to French music, these subt!e dynamic inflections, closely
bound up with the language and the sentiment expressed, were
among the demands the French style of singing imposed. They
were frequently misunderstood by foreigners-for instance even as
late as 1789, when Charles Burney remarked at the 'vocal outrages'
of Marie Fel's pu pi! Sophie Arnould as Télaire in a revival of Castor
et Pollux. Most of these were either not notated at ali or were
represented merely by a sign which could be interpreted in severa!
ways according toits expressive intent. 'lt is Jess a question ofwhat
is written', wrote Rousseau, 'than ofwhat is to be sung; this type of
notation can only be regarded as a sort of abbreviation'. 30
Rameau's commems on the expressive value of ornamentation
came in response to Rousseau's sharp critique of French music in his
Lettre sur la musique française. Choosing the famous recitative from
Act II scene 5 of Lully's Armide, ' Enfin il est en ma puissance',
Rousseau attacked the declamation as ineffective and overcharged
with ornaments, 'les frédons, les cadences, les ports de voix qui
reviennent à chaque instant'. 31 He cites in particular trills which
conflict with the audience's comprehension and interrupt the flow,
such as the trill on the word 'puissance': ' Voilà une trille, et qui pis
est, un repos absolu d ès le premier vers, tandis que le sens n'est
achevé qu'au second' .32 He criticizes the passage phrase by phrase
and finds it ' rempli de sons filés, de trilles et autres ornements du
chant bien plus ridicules'. 33
Rameau countered Rousseau's accusations in his Observations sur
notre instinct pour la musique, published the following year. H e stressed
the significance of harmony as the source of expression and the
dramatic importance of ornamentation. The trill placed on the
accented sylla ble of 'puissance', according to Rameau, adds
brilliance and force to the line. Trills should be varied according to
the emotion portrayed." ltalian singers, he comments, usually
mastered wider ranges than French, but he recommends that
singers should practise roulades descending and ascending by half-
and whole-tones throughout their entire range. To the practice of
"' Jean-Jacques Rousseau , Lettre sur la musique française, Paris, 1753, p. :./;j.
" Ibid., p. 73.
" Ibid., pp. 81-82.
33
Ibid ., pp. 89-90.
3' Observations sur notre instinct pour la musique et sur son principe, Paris, 1754, p. 18.
 these roulades the singer should add the expressive 'shading'
d emanded by French music. 1~ H e also warns against a lways placing
a n ornament on the final note. One must not ' précipiter volontaire-
ment un battement de trille ou de port de voix sur la fin ', as it !oses
its quality. ' Le sentiment, la volonté de finir suffit pour cet effet. ''"
The care with which Rameau notated ornaments in his scores
reveals his regard for their expressive value. In contrast to the large
number of signs in his key board music, however, his opera tic scores
bear only three different signs (see Ex. 1) , corresponding to the
three types of ornament mentioned in his Code de musique pratique
( 1760): (a) the trille (beginning on the upper note); (b) the port de
voix battu en montant (a lower appoggiatura followed by a mordent);
and (c) the coulé (a n unaccented note usually filling in the space of a
third descending) . The duration and complexity of each ornament
should be d etermined by the emotion portrayed and the meaning of
the text; 'ce font les sources de tous les agréments du chant'. 3 '

Ex.l

(a ) - (c) J.tJ

The expressive interpretation of these ornaments in differing

contexts is a subject ofj ean-Antoine Bérard's treatise L'Art du chant
(Paris, 1755) , dedicated to Madame de Pompadour. In a brief
career at the opera Bérard had performed severa! minor roles in
Rameau's works. His twenty examples, chosen from works by
Lully, Campra, Mondonville, Rameau and others, hold particular
value for their close rela tions hip to actual performance; ali from
new works or recent revivais, they represent a unique surviving
record of renditions by the most famous interpreters of Rameau's
works. Bérard divides sounds into two different classes, the first
including those th at are 'violents', 'entre-coupés', ' majestueux' and
'étouffés' and the second those th at are 'légers ', ' tendres' and
'maniérés' . He distinguishes between pronunciation, which varies
according to the mood of the text, and articulation, which furthers
the audience's comprehension of the singer's emotion. Emphasiz-
ing the importance of the character of each sound, he a ttempts to
describe the most important ornaments-twelve in ail.
Among Béra rd 's musical examples are three celebrated pieces
from Rameau's works, 'Tristes apprêts' from Castor et Pollux, 'Lieux
funestes ' from Dardanus and the ariette ' L'objet qui règne' from Les
Fêtes d'Hébé, originally from the cantata Le Berger fidèle. The first two
pieces are classed with other laments requiring 'les sons étouffés'
(stifled or smothered sounds). 'Lieux funestes' was added to
"' Code de la musique pratique, Pa ris, 1'l60, p. 18.
36
Ibid., p . 20.
3
' I bid .
Dardanus at the opening of Act I V when Rameau made substantial
revisions for the 1744 revival. Pierre Jélyotte performed the new
monologue and retained the leading role which he had created five
years earlier. Bérard himself performed the smaller role of Arcas.
Comparison of Bérard 's version of ' Lieux funestes ' (Ex. 2) with
th at of the origina l printed edition reveals severa! points of interest.

Ex. 2
T
J T T

1~ r p i<wJ Jl ,. J
'
if

Lieu x fu - nes tes ou tout res pi re la

T
+ J T
0

J Jl Jil J if IS 1 .:·
r 1
• 12
'' '
1 ) )
hon - te ct la dou -le ur du dé· ses -pouar Som-bre et cru - el em

T T
v 1 T +
~ ~~~~ 2 ~
r ' ' J r 1~ .J a ; ' r , •œ
-l•l 1a
1 rJ • ; F :
1

pi re l 'hor · reur que vo- treas · s>ect in - spi- re est le moiTHirede!!o

.2 T
v
["
maux
~
qui
p
dé
1
T
1
F'
chi
~

'
re nt mon
1
v
r· r
coeur. l"hor
T
-e
J

reur

J T

'~:· ~ '~c • ,o; .a.

~r&r
v
("'
Ê
' ~
'' ~
1
if

'
- h 1
1 1 1

q ue vo-t re as- pect Spi re esc le moin drc des maux qui dé·
'"

- chi rent mon coeur

In coritrast to numerous trills and appoggiaturas added by Bérard

in other examples , most ofthose in Rameau's pieces were indicated
by the composer himself. Bérard has added only one appoggiatura
to the trills and appoggiaturas notated in the 1744 print. Yet he
marks the accent (Ex. 3a) frequently, a small inflection or 'caressing'
of the note above, at the termination of a long note. It frequently
expresses sadness, usually on stressed syllables and on long notes
followed by another of the same pitch. Long notes also frequently
show a swell, or sonfilé (Ex. 3b), in addition to the acceni. O n the
word ' horreur' Bérard first indicates an accent and son demi-filé
(half-swell, Ex. 3c), then, when the text repeats with a more intense
setting, Bérard adds an accent and a full swell (son file} . Th us
Bérard's version reinforces the heightened emotional intensity
suggested by the composer. Bérard 's port de voix feint (Ex. 3d ), a
lower appoggiatura followed by a mordent, corresponds to
Rameau's pori de voix battu en montant (Ex. 1b ), while Bérard 's port de
voix entier (Ex. 3e) represents simply a lower appoggiat ura.
Although in this case Rameau has m arked al! of the trills himself,
Bérard indicates how these might have been varied by the
performer according to the meaning and expression of the text. H e
employs in ' Lieux funestes' four different signs for trills: a cadence
molle (Ex. 3f), a trill which begins slowly without appoggiatura and
ends softly, for tender or sad pieces; a cadence précipitée ou jetée (Ex.
3g), a short trill; a cadence appuyée (Ex. 3h), a trill with an
appoggiatura of a half or one third the value of the note; a
demi-cadence (Ex. 3i), an appoggiatura and a short, quick tri!!.
Ex.3
la)
accent 3
T
[t!J
(b)
SO li fil é

<>
Il
(c )
so11 d emi·filé
1
U+;J Il .J
-=
Il
(cl)
port de vnix f ein t
1\

[$ a 1 A Il j.= } 01
tQJ Il
le)
(JOni de .voix en tier

Il a 1 a,-=--=
J 11

(/)
cadenet molle
+
[@ ;.
 (g )

+
[t j
( Ir)
cadence appuyée

~
(i) denwcadence fou co up de
gorge)
~

(fi J IIÇZ{§JII
<:>
(j)

é.
w;
flatté
,; Il h6Fala)

Although most of Bérard's other examples are taken from

monologues or a irs, he also in eludes an extended scene of recitative
from Act V of Lully's Arys, in which Atys vents his rage and kills
Sangaride d espite the chorus's interjections in her favour (Ex. 4).
The passage was a famous one and, as we shall see, was quoted by
other writers as weil. It had been many years si.nce it was heard on
the Paris stage, however; the most recent revival prior to the
publication of Bérard's treatise was in 1740, when J élyotte
performed the role of Atys and Marie Fel was Sangaride.36
Béra rd treats the passage in a similar manner to the monologues
which s urround it, adding a ppoggiaturas, trills, and a few swells on
long notes or occasionally a vibrato (flatte), as on the word 'vapeur'
in bar 1. As in 'Tristes apprêts' the first note, here an exclam ation
('Ciel!' ), receives a half-swell (i.e. crescendo) and accent. This
combination seem s to be a favourite one for the accentcd opening
note of a phrase or other important long no tes, such as 'sang' in bar
7. Bérard has chosen to add the short tri li (cadence jetée), al ways
a pproached from a bove and frequently by leap from a third above
(as on 'frémis' in bar 3 and ' tremble' in bar 4) . Later, in a n
exceptional case, he indi cates the cadence molle for the emphatic line
'C 'est votre seul péril qui cause ma terreur'. This example a lso
d emon strates Béra rd' s stress on the prolongation or 'doubling' of
certain consonants fo r the sake of clarity of articulation.
The passage from Arys was a lso included in a treatise by
Raparlier, Principes de musique: Les agréments du chant, published sorne
sixteen years later. Although di rected more towards the a mateur

38 An anonymous miniature on ivory now in the .Musée de Dijon probably depicts

J élyottc accompanying himsclf on the g uitar; a score of.Arys stands open on the harpsichord
in front of him. See the exhibition catalogue }tan-Philip~ Ramtau, 1683-1764, Paris,
Bibliothèque )/atio nale, 1964, item 401.
 Ex.4
T T

4~ c
c
Ciel
l
r )
q
quel -le
v
~ )

va-peur m'en·vî - ron

1
v
J J
ne!
'1
~ ~ s~
Tous mes Sens
s
i
sont trou-
~ 1

; ~
b
l
Ê
• bles.
y
i é ~r
r
+

Je fré-mis.
Of
f ir J:
je fri
]l 1
T

son -ne;
'1

'
r
+
~-
1
2 t t l'r
t
Je trem-blr et tout à

v
)
•
%· v i iv 7

'
~ ~: } a r
'' '
1
r r cl 1
coup une ln fer - na • le ar dcllr Vient en - fla'!ller mon

T
l
v +
r i 2~,.

' ' ~ jec F

~

s d
Sang.. et de-vo-rer mon coeur.

than the professional musician, Raparlier's work emphasizes many

of the same principles as that of Bérard. He describes in rather
general terms the adaptation of tone, articulation and ornamenta-
tion to the genre of music to be performed:

The genre of motets or ch urch music must be simp le and maj estic:
swelled sounds, trills prepared a nd beaten clearly [les Sons filés, les
Cadences préparées et bien Battues]. The genre of Fre nch opera or the
Académie Royale d e Musique must be noble: appoggiaturas empha-
sized and sensitive [marqués et sensibles], ornaments in a n air dean
[détachés], the words weil a rticula ted by doubling the consonants,
etc.... The genre of Opéra-Bouffon must be lively and light; in that
case roulades, passages and tours de Gosier are the ornaments most used.'"

In the section d ealing with orna mentation ('agrémen ts du chant')

he provides simple explanations for fifteen ornaments: the coulé, port
de voix, accent, chute, cadence, pincé, martellement, flatté, balancement,
tour-de-gosier, passage, roulade, trait, son filé a nd sanglot.'0 His final
section, a n essay on pronunciation and articulation, is perhaps of
most value for its explanations of how pronunciations may vary
according to context and type ofpiece, with rules for elisions as weil
as specifie vowels and conson an ts.
As an exam ple of the application of proper ornamenta tion,
articulation and pronunciation, he appends Lully's recitative.
39
Principes de musique, p. 16.
.., Ibid. , p. 19.
 Despite numerous similarities between the versions of Bérard and
Rapa rlier, many differences are found as weil. Raparlier, for
example, often fails to add the short trill or appoggiatura in the
middle of a line that Bérard does, a nd he marks the accent Jess
frequently. H e indicates the cadence molle severa! times, but omits an
ornament altogether at the point at which Bérard had indicated the
cadence molle. Raparlier also d evised a mark to show the appropriate
places to breathe, always at the end of a complete sentence or
occasionally for tex tuai reasons, as at the exclamation 'ah! '.
The application of sorne of the foregoing principles by singers at
the Opéra can be seen in two surviving roles that preserve
manuscript notations dating from eighteenth-century revivais of
Les Fêtes d'Hébé.., That of Tinée in the second entrée bears
annotations by a performer- perhaps the Mr. Moreau whose name
appears on the first page (see P late I). He has entered numero us
marks of interpretation throughout, adding at the end 'chanté
suprêmement par Mr Gélin, 1756'. He presuma bi y wished to
preserve (and perhaps copy?) the ornaments and expression of the
well-known basse-taille then at the height .of his career.
Nicolas Gélin (b. 1726) performed many roles in Rameau's
works. H e made his début in 1750 and studied in the early years of
his career with the fine basse-taille Chassé. After a performance by
Gélin at the Concert Spirituel, a reviewer wrote in the Mercure de
France, 'sa voix fut trouvée étendue, sonore, gracieuse, légère' .••
Two years later he was compared favourably with Chassé, who had
performed the role of Alcée in an earlier revival of D estou ches's
Omphale." H e took part in revivais of Ramea u's works d uring the
1750s a nd 1760s and lived to sing the role of the High Priest in
Gluck's A lceste ( 1776) before his retirement in 1779. Although he is
not recorded as having performed the role of Tinée in Les Fêtes
d'Hébé until the 1764 and 1765 reviva is, his performance in 1756,
for which the manuscript annotations survive, was p erhaps as a
replacement for Chassé in one or more performances that year .
Sorne of the indications of Gélin 's interpretation show an
a nnotation characterizing his expression of a phrase (such as
'récitatif m ajestueux' for ' Dignes enfants d' Alcide') or a section
marked ' mesuré' indicating the end of a previous recitative.'' In
severa! places the singer has add ed a d ot to rhythms notated
equally in the role, and occasionally a1so added an appoggiatura,
a lthough , as in Bérard 's examples, most of the appoggiaturas were
a lready notated by Ra meau. At the climactic point in Tirtée's
opening recitative, 'J e saurai par mon art' (see Plate I), with the
" The pa rts are preserved in Paris, Bibliothèque de l' Opéra, matériel.
" December 1750, p . 165.
43
.~1ercu re de France, ~'vl ay 1752, p. 163 .
14
Rousseau (Dictionnaire de musique, Paris, 1768, p. 283) writes of mesuré: 'ce mor répond à
l' ftalien à T empo ou à Batuta, ct s'emploie sortant d ' un Récitatif, pour marq uer le lieu où l' on
d oit commencer à chanter en mesure'.

330
PLATE 1

331
 addition of ftute and strings at his words ' par mes accords', the
performer has indicated Gélin's interpretation as ' lent et noble'.
Two bars later the crotchets of 'J 'appaisay' are marked 'égalles'
[sic], in contrast to the following ones to which dots have been
added, indicating that they had been performed as inégales.
Another vocal role, that of Sapho from the first entrée of Les Fêtes
d'Hébé, also preserves sorne annQtations by a singer, although the
namè of the performer does not appear on it (see Plate Il ) . The role
certainly dates from no later than 1765, the year of the last
eighteenth-century revival of this entrée. Rameau had taken an
active interest in the 1764 production-only three months before
his death-revising passages and making other changes. 45 Sorne
annotations on the vocal role were added in ink: 'doubled '
consonants, trills and appoggiaturas, a word indicating the
character of a section, a mark indicating the retaking of breath and
a few other signs. Sapho's opening air, ' Bois chéris des amours',
might have been classed with other laments by Bérarc;l for its
tender, sighing quality. The performer has indicated the mood of
the opening 'en tendre regret' . As in Bérard's examples, once again
little ornamentation was add ed beyond Rameau's own indications
(none at ali in this air), but the singer has notated how
appoggiaturas and trills might be varied according to context. In
the first bar, for example, the appoggiatura is indicated with a
small minim at the beginning of the trill, which would probably be
continued as a cadence appuyée, according to Bérard 's instructions.
Other appoggiat uras are marked wi th a shorter value. The unusual
notation of the appoggiatura in bar 5 on 'sombres' may be an
indication of a quick resolution to the consonance, on a stressed
syllable. Similarly, the petite note probably marks an accented
syllable since an appoggiatura would be impossible.• A small
vertical stroke, such as that following 'amours' in bar 2, indicates a
breath mark, the same symbol used by Rapa rlier in his treatise . A
tie has been added to the word 'ombres' (bar 7) , indicating that the
second syllable should be scarcely pronounced at ali. Certain
consonants have been written in, usually those which should
receive extra stress, according to Bérard's advice for 'doubling'
consonants for clear diction and to further the expression . For the
middle section of the piece, which turns to a more recitative-like
character, the corresponding change to speech-like declamation is
indicated with the words ' plus débité' , and in the more vivid phrase
'au moment qu ' il me donnois sa foy ' the word 'saisir' probably
indicates an expressive vocal or perhaps a dramatic gesture. Once
again we find a long appoggiatura notated in bar 24 on the word
' rigueurs'. A final point of interest is the occasion al change of
<> Among the numerous surviving parts a nd scores, both printed and in manuscript,
rcpresenting performances of Les Fêtes d'Hébé, a printed short score with many manuscript
annota tions probably bcars many of the 1764 changes: Paris, Bibliothèque de 1' Opéra,
A. 143a.

332
 ... .,.,.....,. , .,
PLATE II

~ . . ~ '

1
..
'

333
 rhythm from even quavers to dotted execution (either way
round-e.g. ' rassemblaient' in bar 5, ' trop flatteur' in bar 21) or the
prolongation of a long note, causing a subsequent rhythmic
adjustment ('Quand vos retraites' in bar 4).
The singer's indication of ' plus débité' seems appropriate for
both the character of the text in the middle section and its simpler
accompaniment (continuo only). But the fairly rapid speech-like
declamation that these words implied had become the subject of
sorne controversy by the mid eighteenth century. De Rochemont
blamed the performer's desire to sing continuously rather than
adopt a more declamatory manner when the text demanded it:

One further thing ruins our singers, both male and female, namely
their passion for elaboration and brilliance [la jureur de pousser et defaire
briller leurs voix]. In particular, most of our female singers do not
declaim [débitent] at ali; they only sing."'

According to Rousseau, composers were often at fault in recitative

for imposing too wide a range upon a singer, making declamation
difficult. ' Le meilleur récitatif', he wrote, 'est celui qui approche le
plus de la parole' ,47 but he fou nd little evidence of true declamation
in most performances. He also criticized the sort of singer who
'suspend le récit hors de propos pour filer de beaux sons sur des
syllabes qui ne signifient rien et qui ne forment aucun repos dans le
sens' ! 8 Concluding his critique of the passage from Lully's Armide,
he wrote: 'On n'y trouve ni mesure, ni caractère, ni mélodie: si l'on
veut que ce soit du récitatif, on n'y trouve ni naturel ni
expression'. ••
Severa! of Rousseau's supporters voiced similar complaints.
According to Bâton lejeune, 'Notre récitatif tient trop de l'air, en ce
qu'il est trop chanté et trop rempli d 'agréments, ce qui l'empêche
d 'être un vrai récitatif '."' He did not agree with Rousseau,
however, that there ought to be more regularity of pulse in
recitative. On the contrary, he stated, 'Sa mesure n'est ni égale ni
sensible'. 5 ' The excessively slow rendition that Rousseau criticizes
may have been quite different from the manner in which recitative
had been sung sorne generations earlier. According to Lecerf de la
Viéville, Lully himself attempted to prevent singers from adding
additional ornaments in recitative which might interfere with the
speech-like declamation, saying: 'Je ne veux point de broderie, mon
récitatif n 'est fait que pour parler, je veux qu'il soit tout uni' . ~ 2 Josse

"' Réflexions, p. 74 n.
47
Lettre sur la musique française, p. 71.
8
' Ibid ., p. 73.
9
' Ibid. , pp. 89-90.
"' Examen dt la lettre de M. Rousseau sur la musique française, 2nd edn., Paris, 1754, p. 37 n.
" Ibid. Cf. Rousseau, Lettre, p. ï4.
" Lecerf de la Viéville, Comparaison de la musique italienne el de la musique française, 2nd.
edn., Brussels, 1705-6, ii.204.

334
 de Villeneuve also noted that recitative in the mid eighteenth
century was customarily performed more slowly than it had been in
Lully's day.s3 Rousseau confirms the same observation:

... fLully's] recitative is much less mannered lmaniére1 [than recita-

rive is now], and therefore much better than ours is: this is confirmed
by the manner of performa nce, for the former recitative was performed
by singers of that day entirely different! y from the way wc doit today.
lt was quicker [plus vij] and less dragging [traînant]; it was sung less
and declaimed [déclamoit] more. Thcre are more trills and appoggia-
. turas in ours and it has become more languid ; there is scarcely
anything any more which distinguishes it from what wc like to cali
air.,.

Sorne years la ter Charles Collé recalled that Rameau had offered to
' revise and rewrite Lully's works (a project he never undertook, as
far as is known ), but he intended to leave the recitative as Lully
wrote it, recommending only that ' les acteurs le chantassent moins
lentement' . ~' Near the end of the century, Ginguené also remarked
in his article 'débiter' for the Encyclopédie méthodique that recitative in
Lully's day had been declaimed 'beaucoup plus rapidement' than
in Rameau's.
A few years after his Lettre sur la musique française, Rousseau
seems to have reversed his position, for in his article 'débiter' for the
Dictionnaire de musique he criticizes the performance of recitative for
its excessive haste:

Débiter: deliberately to hasten the tempo [presser le Mouvement] of

singing and render it in a mannc r approaching the rapidity of
speech.... French recita tive is still disfigured by bcing declaimed ... s.;

Severa! writers came forward. to criticize Rousseau's inconsistency.

Cah usac took exception to Rousseau in his article for the
Encyclopédie, stressing the necessity for declamation com bined with
an expressive ddivery:

Opera dialogue drags if il is not declaimed [débitée]: no matter how

weil he sings, the singer who does not declaim at ail weakens the
interest and causes boredom. One should beware, however, of
believing that to deliver a role rapidly, without adding nuance to it,
without putting stress in it, etc., would be the same as declaiming
it. ... To declaim, at the o pera, is thus an essential part of the singer's
task, and to declaim is to render a singing role rapidly, with precision,
expression, grace and variety."

The anon ymous au thor of Suite des lettres sur la musique observed that
" Lettre sur la michanismt dt l 'opira italien, f\:aples & Paris, 1ï56, p. 101.
34 Lettre sur la musique française, pp. 61-62.

" Charles Collé, journal tl mimoim, ed. Honoré Bonhomme, Paris, 1868, iii.l21 0 anuary
1767) .
s.; Dictionnaire, p. 139.
" 'Débiter', Encyclopidit, cd. Diderot & d'Alembert, Paris, 1753 ( 1778 edn. , x.316).

335
nuance and expression in declamation cao only be present when
the metre is not adhered to strictly:

Recitative, being only a declamation, should not be measured; for it

would be ridiculous to reduce to equal beats the manifestation of
thoughts that follow each other at unequal intervals.""
He cites a well-known passage from Rameau's Les Indes galantes to
illustrate an exception: a recitative which ought to be measured. In
Act I Emilie, at the banks of the sea, reflects upon her fate as she
watches the agitation of the waves before her. The tempest, whose
effect is created by the orchestra, remains the principal subject, and
Emilie 's thoughts serve as an accompaniment. According to the
author, the piece would be called an air since it is measured , but
should remain declamatory and produce the effect for the listener of
reci tative. 59
With more specifie advice to the performer for establishing sorne
bounds to this freedom of declamation, Lécuyer advises in his
Principes de l'art du chant ( 1769):

Although the metre should not be strict in the dialogue and in a

monologue, and though it may sometimes be permitted to linger [se
pavaner] on sorne sounds and ornaments, (the performer] is still no Jess
obliged to stress [scander] his singing weil; that is to say, to make the
long and short (syllables] felt, to pay attention to the rests, and to
dwell only on verbs that Jack action or movement, and especially togo
absolutely according to the meaning of the words.
As for measured airs and character pieces [airs mesurés et de
caractère], it is never permissible to alter the metre for whatever reasons
there might be, except for the final cadence; and when one wants to
borrow from one note to give to another, this should be done only with
the greatest discretion; it would be better to follow literally the
composer's false quantities than to take away the character of an air. 60
Lécuyer's inclusion of the monologue (such as ' Lieux funestes' from
Dardanus, discussed earlier) in the category of pieces wh ose metre is
less strict is worth noting.
Rameau's recitative has seldom drawn praise from recent
scholars/' although in the eighteenth century even sorne of his most
vehement critics acknowledged his superiority. Since Lully's
recitative usually formed the mode! for comparison, it was no small
accomplishment when Rameau's was judged to excel. Rousseau,
however, still took a moderate stand:
His recitative is Jess na tura! but much more varied than that of Lully:
admirable in a few places but bad almost everywhere else, which is
perhaps as much the fau lt of the genre as his own; for it is often the
;a [Ozy? Fréron?1, Suite des lettres sur Id musique, Geneva, 1754, p. :.!!!.
;o, Ibid., pp. 29-30.
60 Principes dt l'art du chant, Paris, 1769, pp. 22-23.
61 See Pau1-:\1Iarie Masson, L 'Opéra de Rameau, Paris, 1930, pp. 132-20 1.
 result ofhaving wanted to serve the declamation too much tha t he has
made his melody strained [baroque] and his connections harsh. If he
had the power to conceive true recitative, and with it convince this
flock of sheep, 1 think he could have excelled at it. 62

D' Alembert was among those who favoured Rameau's recitative

over that of Lully, which he said often spanned too great a range for
the voice. ln his Mélanges de littérature ( 1759) he cites as 'le modèle
d 'un bon récitatif' the scene from the second act of Dardanus in
which Iphise admits to Dardanus her love for another . D ' Alembert
.. adds directions for performing the passage:

lt seems tous that an excellent singe r having to recite [déclamer] ail this
passage in the scene from Dardanus would render it precisely as it is set
to music. To speak more exactly, and not to exaggerate anything (for
there could be severa! different ways, ali equally good, Of expressing
the sentiment contained in these words), 1 imagine that an intelligent
singer declaims [débite] the text in the Italian manner, confo rming to
the note but adding to his declamation the inflections, finesse, nua nces
and grada tions of loud and soft necessary to bring the expression out;
and I belicve I can say that one would scarcely be aware of the singing
as such, but wou ld simply have the impression of hea ri{lg a tragic
scene weil delivered. T ogo further, I should clare to predict that this
piece, declaimed [débite1 by an excellent singer in the manner I propose,
wou ld give more pleasure than the same piece sung in full voice by the
same singer with ali possible perfection. Singing proper has contours
[traits] thal are more marked and, if one da res to say su ch a thing,
more coarse than those of simple declamation; in the expression of
sentiment the latter has certain delicacies of which the voice driven
with more effort is not capable at al l. 63

D escriptions by d 'Alembert and others provide a starting point

for recovering a style of singing and declama tion which brings
Rameau 's works to life. Evidence from singers who performed his
music amplifies these findings , in sou rces as divergent as Bérard's
treatise and annota tions on surviving vocal roles used in actual
performances. No one source will solve ail the mysteries, but
.. together they illustrate continuous subtle changes tha t took place
during the eighteenth century, and serve to record in sorne measure
the manner in which Rameau 's music was sung by the finest
performers of his day. T o leave the voice wirhout appropriate
ornaments and expression, said Michel Corrette, was to leave a
crude diamond unpolished.•• Now that recent research and
performances h ave revealed many gems among Rameau's works, it
remains for us to refine our knowledge of how his music should be
sung .

61
' Leme à :vi. Grimm' ( 1752), p. 24.
63
M ilangts dt littiraturt, Amsterdam, 1759, pp. 431-2.
64
Le Parfait Maitrt à chanltr, 2nd edn ., Paris, 1763, p. 47 .

337