Music at the Maison royale de Saint-Louis at Saint-Cyr

The history of music at the Maison royale de Saint-Louis at Saint-Cyr is both rich and intriguing; its large repertory of music was composed expressly for young female voices by important composers working within significant contemporary musical genres: liturgical chant, sacred motets, theatrical music, and cantiques spirituels. In all cases, the stylistic features of the music for Saint-Cyr reflect a careful consideration of the needs and capabilities of the young singers of the school, as well as an awareness of the rigorous requirements of Madame de Maintenon, who kept a close watch over the propriety of all things relating to the piety, behavior, and image of her charges.

Deborah Kauffman is Professor of Music at the University of Northern Colorado. She received her doctoral degree from Stanford University. Her primary area of research focuses on music of the French Baroque, particularly sacred music and music composed for the Maison royale de Saint-Louis at Saint-Cyr. She is the editor of two volumes in the A-R Publications series "Recent Researches in Baroque Music" (2013 and 2001). She serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Musicological Research.

1. The Maison royale de Saint-Louis at Saint-Cyr 2. The Maison royale as an Educational Institution for Women 3. The Musical Lives of the Dames and Demoiselles at Saint-Cyr 4. Saint-Cyr's Composers and Music Masters 5. Cantiques spirituels in the Life of the Institution 6. Music for a Théatre des Desmoiselles 7. Chanter les louanges de Dieu: Liturgical Chant at Saint-Cyr 8. Petit motets: Composers and Styles