The Lure and Legacy of Music at Versailles

John Hajdu Heyer is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater. He began his exploration of French sacred music from the time of Louis XIV during his years as a student in Paris with Nadia Boulanger (1967–70). His publications include two books and five critical editions of works by Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean Gilles. His work as a musicologist and conductor has twice been recognized with the Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society for 'distinguished contribution to the study and performance of early music'. He has served on the Council of the American Musicological Society, the editorial board for the Web Library of Seventeenth-Century Music, and was active on the committees preparing the collected works of Lully. In the past four years, he has undertaken extensive research in the archives and libraries of southern France.

• Foreword Lionel Sawkins; Prologue; General introduction; Part I. Rendezvous in Provence: 1. The winter of 1660: Louis XIV and the royal court visit Provence; 2. A choirboy and his king: the early life of Guillaume Poitevin; Part II. The Aix School: A Legacy of Maîtres: 3. Guillaume Poitevin: maître of Saint-Sauveur; 4. André Campra: an extraordinary career; 5. Jean Gilles: an independent spirit; 6. The 'petits maîtres'; 7. Antoine Blanchard: the eighteenth-century master; Part III. The Lure and Legacy: 8. The lure of music at Versailles and the Île-de-France; 9. Patronage and the Provençal networks; 10. The legacy of the Aix School; Conclusion; Epilogue; Appendix I; Appendix II.

'Every knowable fact, beginning with the names of the choirboys and their teachers, is presented in loving detail. Thanks to the archives of the cathedral chapter, and those of the Aixois notaries, John Hajdu Heyer brings to life the religious musical culture of the most prestigious musique in Provence, as it was lived during a golden age of French music, the classical age … [He] rightly draws on the research of other scholars, and a lot of his own, to bring together what can be known about a major moment in musical culture, far from Paris and Versailles.' Orest Ranum, Panat Times blog (ranumspanat.com)