Sacred Music

The slideshows are available on ICampus.

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1. Definition, polysemy and various expressions of sacred music. Opposition between sacred and secular.

2. General history and sociology of western sacred music (lecture and textbook). With a special chapter on Belgian sacred music.

3. Analyse of several masterpieces of sacred music.

To come out into :

- A typology of sacred musical expressions (liturgical, based on sacred text, performed in a religious context, underlined by theological principles, expression of transcendence, illumation, sacred and spiritual concerts...)

- A philosophical seminar. Possible themes of reflexion : Does a specific musical langage for sacred music exist ? Is it possible to express religiosity by music ? Is music able to bear witness of faith ? Is music able to build links with the mystery of faith, with mysticism, with religion ? Which are the bounderies between musical expression and religious experience ? What is the role of the composer ? What is the nature of links between sacred music and time ? Etc.

To provide historical references, tools, concepts and knowledge about the various expressions of sacred music.

To initiate and to monitor research in this particular field of musicology.

Target public :

1. Students in musicology, archeology and history of arts.

2. Any student from other disciplines concerned with the relationschip between music and the sacred (theology, philosophy, philology, history, sociology, anthropology).

From an epistemological point of view : to disclose the power and mystery emerging from the conjunction of two major Absolutes of humanity : faith and art.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Written examination at the end of the session (50%) and personal work (50%).

• Lectures.
• Student personal research.
• Conferences of experts.

The main objective of the course is the study of Christian musical culture in the West. After defining the concept of "Sacred Music" and identifying the issues it raises, it will, through study and analysis of composers and works that have made landmarks in the history of sacred music (both in Protestant and Catholic traditions), trace the evolution of sacred music and understand the spiritual, religious, social, and political issues. An emphasis will be on the musical practices born in the wake of post-tridentine reforms and more particularly, in the territory of the Southern Netherlands and the Principality of Liege. By analyzing scores, archival documents or liturgical texts, students will examine liturgical and paraliturgical practices (Lenten devotions, processions, etc..) of a city or defined ecclesial institution (church, convent, etc..). They will be able to understand the sacred music production by confronting it with its context of production and distribution.

Selecting references used for the course :

• Cécile Davy-Rigaux, Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers : un art du chant grégorien sous le règne de Louis XIV, Paris, CNRS, 2004.
• Jean Duron (dir.), Plain-chant et liturgie en France au XVII^e siècle, Paris, CMBV, 1997.
• Thierry Favier, Le chant des muses chrétiennes. Cantique spirituel et dévotion en France (1685-1715), Paris, Société française de musicologie, 2008.
• Luigi Garbini, Nouvelle histoire de la musique sacrée. Du chant synagogal à Stockhausen, Paris, Bayard, 2009 (traduction française de Breve storia della musica sacra, Milano, 2005)
• Jean-Yves Hameline, « L'invention de la musique sacrée », La Maison-Dieu, 233 (2003), p. 103-135.
• Jean-Yves Hameline, « La notion de musique sacrée », dans Musique, sacré et profane, Laurent Bayle (éd.), Paris, Cité de la Musique, 2007, p. 25-38.
• Jean-Yves Hameline, « Musique », dans Dictionnaire critique de théologie, Jean-Yves Lacoste (dir.), Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1998, p. 767-771
• Jean-Yves Hameline, Xavier Bisaro, Ars musica et naissance d'une chrétienté moderne : Histoire musicale des réformes religieuses (XVI^e-XVII^e siècles), Tours, CESR, 2008.
• Denise Launay, La musique religieuse en France du Concile de Trente à 1804, Paris, Société française de musicologie, 1993.
• Craig Monson, « The Council of Trent revisited », Journal of the American Musicological Society, 55/1 (2002), p. 1-37.
• Nicolas Schalz, « La notion de 'musique sacrée'. Une tradition récente », La Maison-Dieu, 108 (1971), p. 32-57.
• Edith Weber, La musique protestante de langue française, Paris, Champion, 1979.
• Edith Weber, La musique protestante en langue allemande, Paris, Champion, 1980.

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