TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
9th Biennial Conference on Baroque Music
ABSTRACT
Sapho and the Lyre: Women as Composers, Patrons, and Performers
in Louis XIV’s France
Claire Fontijn
It is well known that Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre distinguished
herself as a composer in Louis XIV’s France, yet comparatively little information
is available regarding the many other women who were musically active in
the period, such as Françoise-Charlotte de Menetou, Anne Fonteaux
de Cercamanen, Antonia Bembo, Mademoiselle Laurent, or Madeleine de Scudéry.
The latter’s nom galant, Sapho, invoked the poet of Greek antiquity
whose lyre (lute) accompanied her; the instrument further symbolized one
of the Apollonian attributes of the Sun King. I have examined the activity
of female composers and performers across social classes during Louis’s
opulent reign, from those who wrote popular urban airs in song anthologies
published by the Ballard—a house at times run by women—to musicians entertaining
at court. I have assembled biographies of some twenty women composers in
the period, as well as of a dozen performers. At the highest echelons,
figures like Henriette Duchess of Orleans and Marie-Adélaïde
Duchess of Burgundy—themselves capable performers—acted as powerful patrons
to women musicians. At the other end of the social order, I have found
evidence to support my thesis that gifted girls could exploit the perceived
gender neutrality of childhood to further their careers. By adopting an
approach that considers both musicological content and social context,
I offer a perspective from which we can interpret Louis XIV’s reign as
having established an unusually conducive environment for women’s music
making.
Last updated on 28 March 2000 by Yo
Tomita