The evolution of dance music and of instrumental polyphonic music went hand in hand in Western Europe .  Although the very oldest musical manuscripts preserve solely monody, by the 15th century, dance music usually had three parts, a practice confirmed by paintings and illuminated manuscripts showing instrumental wind trios playing during a ball or a banquet.  Musical manuscripts, however, never specify instrumentation.  With the development of printed music, the danseries of the 16th century published by Attaingnant, Gervaise or Susato usually have four, and sometimes five parts.  The instrumentation is still not specified, but violin bands are known to have existed.  In the 17th century writing in five parts became the norm in France , with the famous 24 violons du Roy (24 violins of the King) that Marin Mersenne describes in his Harmonie Universelle ( Paris , 1636).  In addition to the outer parts played by six Dessus, tuned G-D-A-E, and six Basses tuned a step lower than the cello, B-F-C-G, this ensemble had three inner parts.  They were played - starting with the smallest instrument and progressing to the largest - by four Hautes-contre, four Tailles, and four Quintes.  Despite their different sizes, these instruments were all tuned a fifth lower than the violin, like the modern viola: C-G-D-A.  The musical example given by Mersenne, a 5-part Fantasie by Henry le Jeune, reveals that the repertory for violin ensemble at the time was not limited to dances, but included "pure" music.  In addition, Mersenne added to this fantasia a "diminution" on the first thirty measures of the Dessus part, a very rare and precious example of how French violinists improvised ornamental groups of quick notes to replace the long notes written in their parts.

            Given the omnipresence of dance music on the French stage, it is only natural that this five-part polyphony became the orchestral norm.  On the other hand, the balance between the outer and the middle parts initially adopted by the 24 violons du Roy was not always respected.  Far from being restricted to playing dances, the orchestra, enriched by wind instruments playing with the Dessus (flutes and oboes), or with the Basse (bassoons), played an essential role, from the overture à la française to the often monumental concluding chaconne, and in passing, it doubled the chorus and accompanied the soloists. 

            In the early 18th century, wind instruments gradually became autonomous, offering composers a palette of increasingly rich timbres.  Polyphony became lighter, compared to the strict five-voice counterpoint that had reigned in the music of Lully and his contemporaries.  This led to the gradual disappearance of the third inner part, the Quinte, in the works of composers such as Campra, Clérambault, and Desmarest.  The resulting four-part texture: Dessus, Hautes-contre, Tailles and Basses, became the norm.  With Rameau (1683-1764) and Royer (1705-1755), orchestration became still more diversified, and the number of parts could fluctuate from two to five in a given piece.  The Hautes-contre and the Tailles, often grouped together under the general term parties, could then be divided or could play in unison. This diversity of the roles of string instruments was a constant during the gestation of the classical orchestra to come later in the eighteenth century.  For example, Boccherini not only divided the violins, as was customary, he also sudivided the violins and cellos in order to obtain six independent parts.

            Printing an orchestral score was very costly and labor-intensive.  Only great successes such as Lully's Atys or Armide could be honored by that type of publication.  Other works were generally printed with reduced parts as follows: The voices and choruses, as well as instrumental duos and trios, were reproduced in their entirety; all the five-part pieces as well as the doubling of choruses by instruments were reduced to the Dessus and the Basse.  Consequently, the parts for the Hautes-contre, the Tailles, and the Quintes have been irrevocably lost, unless other sources such as complete scores (in manuscript) or separate partbooks used in performance can be found.

            In the case of Pancrace Royer, the principal difficulty lies in determining the extent to which it is appropriate to add parts, and at which points in the score such additions are necessary.  First of all, owing to the diversity of the orchestration, the Hautes-contre and the Tailles do not play in a uniform four-part polyphony, as was the case with the composers of the previous generation.  The two inner string parts can each be divided in two; or they can play in unison, thereby permitting the four-part polyphony to be maintined when, for example, the Dessus are themselves divided, or when the strings are accompanying a solo voice.  Secondly, certain passages were printed in three parts: a Dessus, a Partie, and a Basse, although these are not specifically trios.  Should one, in this case, add a second partie in order to obtain four voices?  Nothing is less certain, and an attempt to do this in the Overture to the Prologue, for example, did not prove convincing.  Lastly, the role of the bassoons at the time posed a special problem.  With its large range, a bassoon can play either the Basse or the Taille part (a tenor range, written with a C clef on the fourth or third line of the staff), whether the part in question is a solo part or whether it is doubled by strings.  Although in certain passages, the bassoons are clearly treated as Tailles, it is not always easy to determine how long they should play that part, and when they can rejoin the Basse, for the score is totally silent on this issue.

            In order to carry out this sort of restoration, a knowledge of the styles and techniques of the period, and of the composer's own way of proceeding, is therefore absolutely indispensable.  Thanks to Lisa Crawford's study of the complete scores and the separate partbooks of other operas by Pancrace Royer, and some passages in Le Pouvoir de l'Amour, we have been able to identify the specifics of his style.  It is always a unique experience for a musician and a scholar to collaborate closely with performers.  I am especially grateful to Lisa Crawford and to Oberlin College for having invited me to share this experience with them.

Gérard Geay

            January 4, 2002

            Translation by Patricia Ranum