TY - JOUR
T1 - Revisiting 'Le bon goût'
T2 - Observations on the irregularities and inconsistencies in French harpsichord music 1650-1730
AU - Chung, David
N1 - Funding Information:
*Hong Kong Baptist University. Email: [email protected]. I extend my thanks to Ronald Broude, Philippe Carron, Bruce Gustafson, Rebecca Herissone, David Ledbetter, and Alain le Pichon for sharing information and for their helpful comments on this article. Research for this project benefited from a bye-fellowship at Churchill College, Cambridge in 2009, and was supported by the Hong Kong Research Grant Council (General Research Fund, HKBU 2428/06H). 1 ‘Il y a selon moy dans notre facon d’ecrire la musique, des deffauts qui se raportent a' la manie' re d’e' crire notre langue. C’est que nous e' crivons diffe' remment de ce que nous e' xe' cutons: ce qui fait que les e' trangers jou« ent notre musique moins bien que nous ne fesons la leur....notre usage nous a asservis; Et nous continu«ons’; Franc°ois Couperin, L’Art de toucher le clavecin (Paris,1717; repr. Geneva,1986), 39^40; translation mine.
PY - 2011/5
Y1 - 2011/5
N2 - Scholars working on French keyboard music from the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries have been strongly aware of the close connection between music and language. By mapping linguistic ideas to musical thoughts, this study identifies the origins of this connection and traces how stylistic changes and performance attitudes were influenced by linguistic concepts. During the seventeenth century, in both musical and linguistic realms, an awareness of a certain weakness in existing language led to attempts to purify it. From the 1650s, the desire for logic, clarity, and order also shaped the development of French keyboard music and propelled the rationalization of usage in music. This development paralleled, to a certain extent, the codification of the French language. In both cases, such classification was, however, only partial. By resorting to the notion of le bon goût, musicians silently confessed to the greater variety that took place in practical music-making when compared to theoretical rules. An enriched understanding of le bon goût within a broader cultural context refines our approach to performing this music.
AB - Scholars working on French keyboard music from the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries have been strongly aware of the close connection between music and language. By mapping linguistic ideas to musical thoughts, this study identifies the origins of this connection and traces how stylistic changes and performance attitudes were influenced by linguistic concepts. During the seventeenth century, in both musical and linguistic realms, an awareness of a certain weakness in existing language led to attempts to purify it. From the 1650s, the desire for logic, clarity, and order also shaped the development of French keyboard music and propelled the rationalization of usage in music. This development paralleled, to a certain extent, the codification of the French language. In both cases, such classification was, however, only partial. By resorting to the notion of le bon goût, musicians silently confessed to the greater variety that took place in practical music-making when compared to theoretical rules. An enriched understanding of le bon goût within a broader cultural context refines our approach to performing this music.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79957467251&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/ml/gcq114
DO - 10.1093/ml/gcq114
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:79957467251
SN - 0027-4224
VL - 92
SP - 183
EP - 201
JO - Music and Letters
JF - Music and Letters
IS - 2
ER -