Abstract / About the project

This project has made a detailed examination of over 20 newly-rediscovered sources containing seventeenth-century French harpsichord music, and led to an enhanced understanding of the reception and transmission of this repertory outside France, since most the new sources are of non-French provenance. In addition to compiling and digitizing source information, this project re-evaluates the significance of the 17th-century French harpsichord music in a range of intellectual and musical issues and assesses the importance of the newly- discovered versions and variant readings for modern scholars, music editors and performers. By connecting ideas pertinent to source studies with ideas pertinent to performance practice studies, this project includes a full reappraisal of our attitudes to performing and teaching this music. Research outcome to date includes two scholarly articles and an online thematic catalogue of keyboard arrangements of Lully’s music (OTCL), as well as two paper presentations delivered at international conferences. The online catalogue offers a useful model for future digital humanities projects. It is an open-ended resource in which data discovered in the future will be added to the catalogue.