Understanding French Baroque performance practice via a modern edition of Jean-Philippe Rameau's

Abstract

This study explores performance practices used in French choral music of the late Baroque era, using In convertendo (ca. 1713; rev. 1751), a grand motet by Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764), as the exemplar. As the foundation of the project, the author created a new edition of the motet (which is included in an appendix to the document) from primary source material. The document is divided into two major sections. History and Performance Practice. After a brief overview of Rameau's life and career, the first section summarizes the development of the grand motet genre from the early works of Eustache Du Caurroy (1549-1609) through the contributions of Rameau. The second section discusses the following topics: the various agrements and their usage; matters of meter, tempi, and dynamics; conventions of rhythmic alteration; issues of pitch and instrumentation; and the use of the historical French Latin pronunciation for this repertoire. The document concludes with a chapter describing the author's edition of In convertendo and detailing the editorial procedures employed in creating it.