La France Galante: About the Program
By Dr. C. Matthew Balensuela
In the early 18th century, the term “galante” was used in France to describe a person who was eager to please, especially in matters of the heart. The term was then used to describe this basic idea in various arts in the same period. “Fêtes galantes” was the term used to describe amorous scenes of well-dressed couples in outdoor settings—such as a garden party—as seen in the works of the French painter Jean-Antonie Watteau (1684-1721). “Galant music” is eager to please in the avoidance of complicated compositional techniques (such as imitative counterpoint used in fugues) in favor of simple melodies and clear harmonies—music that anticipates the Classical style later in the 18th century. Narrative musical works, ballets and operas, could show the universal nature of romantic interactions around the world.
André Campra (1660-1744) was born in southern France (Aix-en-Provence). His musical career began in the Catholic church, first as a choirboy before becoming a chaplain in 1681. He proceeded through a series of church positions culminating in his appointment as the Master of Music at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 1694. His early compositions, understandably, are mostly masses and motets. Campra, however, was equally drawn to the stage, but realized that some in the church might have trouble reconciling his two musical interests, so his earliest stage works in Paris were published anonymously, including L’Europe galante (1697). His successes eventually allowed him to gain aristocratic patrons, and he left his position at Notre Dame in 1700 to pursue his stage works full time. L’Europe galante combines dance and vocal movements into an “opéra-ballet” and is scored for pairs of flutes, oboes, bassoons, strings, basso continuo, and singers (in some movements). The prologue presents the Graces, Venus, and other figures from mythology discussing the nature of love while forging Cupid’s arrows. Each of the four acts sets a story of contemporary love in a different country: France, Spain, Italy, and the Turkish Empire (love is universal, after all). Following an overture in a broad ABA form, today’s program presents selections from throughout the work, mostly dances (or “airs” in the score).
Michel Corrette (1707-1795) worked most of his life as a church organist in Paris and composed a variety of sacred works for voices and organ. He also composed several instrumental works, including 25 comic violin concertos from the 1730s to the 1770s, which were used for public concerts and as short interludes between the acts of a larger dramatic work. Corrette’s Concerto Comique XXV in G minor is scored for solo violin, string orchestra, and continuo. The humor comes from incongruity—each movement uses a popular melody of the time. The first movement Allegro uses a theme credited to either Campra or Rameau (today’s other two composers) that was used to accompany two indigenous Americans who danced at the Saint-Germain fair in 1725. The second movement Andante employs the melody of the aria “Quand on sait aimer et plaire” (“When you know how to love and to please”) from Act I, scene 5 of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s opera Le devine de village—a scene that depicts the miscommunication of young lovers (a galante subject indeed). The concluding Allegro sets a tune known as La Fürstemberg—a popular anonymous poem and song of the day mocking the mistress of the Bishop of Strasbourg. In using popular melodies, Corrette’s concerto presents the melodies with subsequent variations, a framework different from the alternation of the full orchestra and soloistic passages of the Italian concerto.
Jean-Phillipe Rameau (1683-1764) was born into a musical family in Dijon, France. For his first four decades he lived in relative obscurity around Dijon. He moved to Paris in 1722, probably to oversee the publication of his Traité de l'harmonie, which established him as the leading theorist of his age. He slowly gained a reputation as a composer, culminating in his first operatic success Hippolyte et Aricie (1733). Les Indes galantes (premiered in 1735 and subsequently revised several times) is an opéra-ballet that follows the basic format of Campra’s earlier L’Europe galante and is scored for pairs of flutes, oboes, bassoons, strings, basso continuo, and singers (in some movements)—a few festive movements include trumpet and tympani. Rameau’s work begins with the Greek gods of love (Hébé) and war (Bellone) enticing the youth of various European nations to follow them to either the pleasures of love or the glory of battle. In a nod to the contemporary War of Polish Succession (1733-35) they all follow the call to war, leaving Hébé to seek stories of love outside of Europe and across the oceans. By the 1761 version of the work, the prologue was followed by amorous scenes in four far-flung locations: an island in the Indian ocean, Peru (Incans), Persia, and North America. As with Campra’s opera-ballet, today’s suite begins with the overture followed by instrumental selections from throughout the work. Les Indes galantes can be seen as part of Europe’s mental recalibration to a new global world view resulting from colonialism. But there is no attempt to integrate what we now call “world music” into the composition, such as the use of native musical elements or instruments. Love is the same around the world, Incan’s sing in French, and everyone on Earth knows European courtly dances.
