Une liturgie ordinaire en des temps extraordinaires : des chantres bretons sous la Révolution

Xavier Bisaro (1)

1 CESR - Centre d'études supérieures de la Renaissance UMR 7323

French rural chantres at the end of the Ancien Régime have been referred to in derogatory terms in the nineteenth century and they are rarely mentioned in the archives. It is not until the Revolution and its overzealous administration that they become known. Exploiting documentary series from the Archives départementales du Finistère, the musical sensitivity of a number of Breton villages emerges; it is also a continuous and strategic concern which takes shape. During a period characterized by the passage from one world to another, the chantres are driven by contrary forces, and take advantage of these antagonisms. But for everyone, they embody a voice without which something seems to come to an end. Unknown and essential, they constitute a paradox which this article means to study.

Mots clés: plain-chant; Révolution; histoire religieuse; religion populaire

Domaines: Musique, musicologie et arts de la scène

Xavier Bisaro. Une liturgie ordinaire en des temps extraordinaires : des chantres bretons sous la Révolution. Revue de musicologie, 2007, XCIII (n° 2), p. 317-335. ⟨halshs-00841155⟩