30 Years Research on La Rhétorique des Dieux – A Brief Introduction (Andreas Schlegel)
The Rhétorique des Dieux (D-Bkk 78.C.12) is among the most spectacular mid-17th century sources of French lute music. According to its preface the manuscript is devoted to the music of Denis Gaultier, and it was planned to contain twelve sections following Zarlino’s modal system (including the Aeolian and Ionian modes) with each section containing a Prélude and eight further pieces.
In May 1987 I handed in my first study on the Rhétorique, entitled “Der Codex Hamilton als periphere Quelle der Werke Denis Gaultiers” (The Codex Hamilton as peripheral source of Denis Gaultier’s works), to the Institute of Musicology at the Basel University. I had then discovered that paper leaves were inserted in this parchment codex, which interfere with the integrity and the uniformity of the book, and which are not mentioned in the preface. Among other deviations from what the preface states and the fact that only just under two thirds of the pages meant to contain music were indeed filled with tablature, my comparison of the concordances showed that the pieces in the Rhétorique are often singular variants. I could differentiate between two music scribes: Notator A, and Notator B. This study was the starting point in my attempts to solve the mysteries of the Rhétorique’s extremely complex genesis. It was the collaboration with François-Pierre Goy which developed into the key to success in these attempts.
About 1989 Robert Spencer gave copies of a manuscript then in his hands to François-Pierre Goy and me. Presently this is manuscript 12 in the private library of Matthias Schneider (D-Fschneider Ms. 12). It contains entries by the Rhétorique’s writer Notator B. Matthias Schneider consented in 2008 to an edition of the complete works written by Notator B. Thorough investigation of the sources (see B-Bc FA VI 10 on this website) and the biographies of all of those who are connected with the Rhétorique led to a growing complexity of the project. We have now come near to the point where we will be able to define our publication’s format, and where we will have to work on the clearly arranged representation of our results. Seeing that further time will elapse with this, François-Pierre Goy and I decided to publish here a preliminary report delivered in the form of a lecture held during the Lute Festival in Bremen on 1 June 2013.
Since then further discoveries of high importance were made. The identification of Montarcis is one example for this. We have decided to add information about these new discoveries in the appropriate places of our lecture’s original text. This is marked “Addition 2016” and appears in italics.
For a more comprehensive version see the German page.
Bibliography and links (in chronological order) of the main works on La Rhétorique des Dieux:
- Oskar Fleischer: Denis Gaultier, in: Vierteljahrsschrift für Musikwissenschaft, 2 (1886).
- Michel Brenet: Notes sur l'histoire du luth en France, in: Rivista Musicale Italiana, V. Fasz. 4. (1898) und VI. Fasz. I. (1899) S. 67-72, (Repr. Genf, 1973).
- Jean Cordey: La Rhétorique des Dieux et ses illustrations..., in: Gazette des Beaux-Arts, VI/I (1929), S. 35-45.
- André Tessier: La rhétorique des dieux et autres pièces de luth de Denis Gaultier, Paris 1932/33, (Publications de Ia société française de musicologie, 1er série, VI-VII.); darin ist die kunsthistorische Einführung von Jean Cordey enthalten.
- David Joseph Buch: La Rherorique des Dieux: A Critical Study of Text, Illustration and Musical Style, Diss. Northwestern University 1983 (UMI An Arbor)
- Andreas Schlegel: Bemerkungen zur Rhétorique des Dieux, 1.Teil: Zur Entstehungsgeschichte, in: Gitarre & Laute 2/1989, S.17 - 23; 2.Teil: Die Tabulatureinträge vor dem stilistischen Hintergrund der französischen Lautenmusik des 17. Jahrhunderts, in: Gitarre & Laute 3/1989, S.17 - 23; 3.Teil: Die Tabulatureinträge in der „Rhétorique“, in: Gitarre & Laute 4/1989, S.27 - 32
Originaltext deutsch inkl. Musikbeispiele
Observations on "La Rhétorique des Dieux". Part one: The origins; Part two: The tablature entries in the stylistic context of 17th century French lute music; Part three: The style of the entries in "La Rhétorique des Dieux".
Englisch translation; Music examples - David Joseph Buch (Hrsg.), La Rhétorique des Dieux, Faksimile-Ausgabe, Madison 1990 (Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era, A-R Editions, LXII). (Kostengünstige Edition mit Faksimile, Transkription und Kommentar)
- François Lesure (Hrsg.): Denis Gaultier, La Rhétorique des Dieux, Faksimile-Ausgabe, mit Vorwort von François Lesure und Konkordanzentafel von François-Pierre Goy, Genf 1991. (Hochqualitative Abbildungen und interessante Einführung mit neuen Quellen zur Biographie von Anne de Chambre; hervorragende, aber nicht mehr neueste Konkordanzenliste, vgl. CNRS-Edition: Oeuvres de Denis Gautier von 1996)
- Tim Crawford, Rezension zur Edition der Rhétorique von D. Buch, in: Early Music 29 (1991), S. 293-296.
- Robert Spencer, Rezension zur Edition der Rhétorique von D. Buch, in: Music & Letters 73 Nr. 4, November 1992, S. 648-650. (Die darin angekündigte englische Fassung meines Artikels ist aus unbekannten Gründen nie erschienen)
- François-Pierre Goy, Antiquité et Musique pour Luth au XV!Ième siècle: Les Sources de l'iconographie et des Arguments de "Ia Rhetorique des Dieux", in: Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budé, Oktober 1995, S. 263-276.
- David Joseph Buch, On dating the Lute Music in „La Rhétorique des Dieux“: New Evidence from Watermarks, in: Journal of the Lute Society of America XXV (1992, © 1995), S. 25-37
- Monique Rollin & François-Pierre Goy (Hrsg.): Oeuvres de Denis Gautier, Paris 1996 (CNRS, Corpus des Luthistes Français). (Viele neue biographische Erkenntnisse und hervorragende Konkordanzenliste)
- François-Pierre Goy, Anne-Achille de Chambré et sa famille, in: Tablature (Bulletin de la Société française de luth), 12 (1996), No. 3, S. 8–11.
- Andreas Schlegel: Was ich dank der „Rhétorique des Dieux“ bisher lernen konnte, in: Jahrbuch der Deutschen Lautengesellschaft, Nr.1 (1997), S.45 - 83
- François-Pierre Goy & Andreas Schlegel: Zur Edition aller Werke von Notator B der Rhétorique des Dieux und zum Gaultier-Werkverzeichnis. Vortrag gehalten am 1.5.2013 in Bremen, Festival der Laute der Deutschen Lautengesellschaft, mit Ergänzungen aufgeschaltet am 26.6.2016. Link
- François-Pierre Goy & Andreas Schlegel: Edition aller Werke in der Hand von Notator B: Faksimile der Handschriften D-Fschneider Ms. 12 und S-Smf MMS 23 und weitere Abschriften von Notator B der "Rhétorique des Dieux" (in Vorbereitung)
