Gretchen Peters, The Musical Sounds of Medieval French Cities: Players, Patrons, and Politics . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. x+297 pp. ISBN 978-1-107-01061-1. doi:10.1017/S0261127913000089

Abstract

Several generations of musicologists have studied, often in detail, urban musical cultures through a vast swathe of Europe. For Italy, Germany, the Low Countries and England we have assembled masses of information. Still, for some areas interest has been less intense, with France being a leading example: despite a handful of local studies (most from the late nineteenth century), there had been no attempt to provide an overall view. Now we have the excellent study by Gretchen Peters which fills this long-standing gap in our knowledge. As Dr Peters points out, there are very good reasons why we have not had such a comprehensive survey before. France was a larger and more diverse region than others, comprising at least four different language groups. A dozen or more cities are of such size and importance that each could demand months, if not years, of sifting through the surviving documents to get an adequate sense of their cultures. In addition there are at least fifty more cities of substantial, if lesser, importance which demand attention. To even begin the task of gathering the essential information demands an almost heroic resolve. Paris presents a particular problem: almost all relevant documents were destroyed in the nineteenth century. The lack of information for what was by far the leading artistic centre of the country has dealt a crippling blow to our understanding. Despite all these obstacles, Peters has managed to construct a remarkably effective composite picture of music in urban France. After an introduction, the book is divided into two main sections. The first consists of three chapters; the first of these is devoted to civic patronage in southern France, the second to that of central France, the third to northern France. The second section also has three chapters, the first concerning the occasions which demanded music, the next on the professional