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Abstract
This paper focuses on the revival and reconstruction of polyphonic settings of the Latin Mass in selected villages in Corsica. Many such mass settings, often unique to a single village and preserved only in oral tradition, fell into disuse during the first half of the 20th century for a variety of reasons that are briefly explored. In some cases, however, fragments remained in the memories of surviving singers or on old recordings and these were to provide the seeds for the repertoire's later renaissance. My account of the processes of retrieval, reconstruction and re-absorption of the musical material itself is balanced by an examination of the different motives and ideologies of the various parties involved, together with an exploration of the broader theoretical implications of the enterprise of reclaiming the musical patrimony and, in particular, what it reveals about attitudes towards the past, authenticity, ownership and local identity. In the course of my analysis I draw on a series of metaphors and paradigms from the fields of archaeology and heritage conservation. Ultimately, I argue that the renewed practice of singing the mass in the “old way” should be viewed as an authentic part of the Corsican present.
Acknowledgments
I am indebted to the British Academy not only for funding my fieldwork of summer 2002, dedicated more or less exclusively to research into the Corsican masses and the revival of the confraternities, but also for supporting my original PhD work on which this paper also draws. For support for my latest fieldwork trip (2004), I am grateful to the British Academy, Music and Letters Trust and the University of Wales, Bangor. Among my Corsican collaborators, I am indebted to the innumerable members of the various singing ensembles and confraternities mentioned in this paper for their generous and serious response to my enquiries and for their unfailingly warm welcome. Special thanks in this instance are due to Santu Massiani with whom, over the years, I have enjoyed many stimulating discussions, and to his fellow singers at Pioggiola and Olmi Cappella for their hospitality during my many visits; to Elisabeth Pardon for sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm as well as welcoming me initially to Speloncato; to Nicole Casalonga for earnest discussions on numerous occasions concerning EVC's part in the reconstruction projects (and much more besides); and to the present singers of Speloncato and Costa who allowed me to be present at a series of their weekly rehearsals in June/July 2002. Finally, I am grateful to Bernard Lortat-Jacob and Martin Stokes for their comments on an earlier draft of this article.
Notes
1. This paper draws on research carried out in Corsica since 1993 and consolidated by means of a special investigation in the summer of 2002; the work was further updated in the summer of 2004, at which time I also reviewed a draft of the paper with my main informants/contributors. An earlier version of the paper was delivered at the 2003 conference of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology (University of Wales, Bangor). Preliminary thoughts on the way in which archaeological paradigms might be applied to a consideration of some of the Corsican material also informed a presentation given at the 1996 Giving Voice Festival (organized by the Centre for Performance Research, Aberystwyth), which took as its theme “The Archaeology of the Voice”.
2. For the sake of consistency and ease of locating the places referred to in the text, I use the standard spellings of place names as found in most maps and guidebooks. Many place names also have alternative spellings that more accurately reflect Corsican pronunciation: these, and other variants sometimes found in publications, disc notes, etc., are given in brackets at the first mention.
3. A similar point is made at the Musée de la Corse at Corte (Corti) in connection with techniques associated with the traditional rural lifestyle, where modern techniques happily coexist with those that elsewhere in Europe would be considered out-of-date. “Can we speak here of archaism?” asks one of the information boards. “No, the Corsicans utilized the techniques that were most suited to their society and to their economy.”
4. For an entertaining if sobering tirade against interpretative anthropology and its reification of meaning, together with its presentation of itself as a moral as well as a methodological revolution, see Gellner (Citation1995).
5. The paghjella (pl. paghjelle) is the most popular type of polyphonic song still widely heard in the living tradition.
6. Römer does, however, suggest that a number of settings of the Kyrie from different parts of the island can be seen to be derived from the Kyrie of the Gregorian Requiem Mass. In the 1970s Römer recorded some examples sung in three parts, some in two and some sung solo. Despite the fact that these Kyries often sound like quite different pieces, the correspondence becomes more evident when transcriptions are compared. See Römer (Citation1983, 220–3, 1996, 48–9).
7. Large quantities of material records were, however, destroyed during the wars with the Saracens, the later struggles with Pisa and Genoa and finally during the years of the French Revolution: thus concrete evidence of earlier practices is limited.
8. An interesting example is provided by one of the two Dies Irae sequences sung in Sartène (Sartè) and referred to by the singers there as the “Dies Irae dei frati” (“Dies Irae of the brothers [monks]”). Römer notes that this is derived from the Requiem of P. Franco found in the manuscript Bastia BPFC 01.6.15, originally from Sartène, as well as in a second manuscript from the convent of Marcasso. The same sequence is sung in Pozzo-di-Brando (Pozzu-di-Brandu) in Cap Corse in an arrangement for two voices. See Römer (Citation1983, 266–7). More recently, Michel Foussard (medievalist, musicologist and Chargé de Mission pour le Patrimoine Musical for the French Ministry of Culture) has undertaken a census of masses found in Corsica in printed or manuscript form, using a specially designed computer programme as an aid to melodic comparison. Comparisons were also made with mass settings from the Conté de Nice, Piemont and Liguria. Preliminary findings suggested two parallel trends: on the one hand, a history of musical exchange between Corsica, Piemont and Liguria and, on the other, a significant number of apparently “autonomous” compositions/traditions.
9. Quilici trained as a professional violinist and viola player and enjoyed a distinguished career as soloist with the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion (later the Orchestre National de France) in Paris. He also held a degree in history of art and musicology from the Sorbonne. Between 1948 and 1963, he undertook a series of official recording expeditions to his home island, the first (1948) as part of a research team sponsored by the Musée National des Arts et Traditions Populaires, the second (1949) on behalf of Radiodiffusion Française and the third (early 1960s) as Attaché de Recherche for the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
10. All translations from non-English sources are my own.
11. For detailed analyses of the Rusio material, see Chailley (Citation1982) and Römer (Citation1983). Notwithstanding the “ancient” echoes heard by Quilici and others, Römer concludes that the material in the form in which it exists today, in which early medieval features are combined with procedures popular in the Renaissance period, is likely to date from no earlier than the 16th century. This assessment is unpopular with many Corsicans who believe the material to be far older.
12. For many, these settings came to be viewed as “traditional”. Max Vuillamier, prieur (prior) of the confraternità in the village of Lumio (Lumiu), for example, says that “for the old people of the village, the village mass was, to all intents and purposes, the mass of Dumont” (interview July Citation2002). Dumont's Cinque Messes en Plain-chant of 1669 were reissued as Messes Royales in 1701; they have since undergone regular reprints and are sung in many French churches.
13. Annie Goffre comments that even before this stage polyphonic practices in a number of places had been compromised by the introduction of organs – often gifts made by local families who had made their fortunes abroad (CEF-MNATP and EVC Citation1992, 76). In Cap Corse, for example, there was a well-established tradition of emigration to parts of South America and the Antilles. On their return to the island of their birth, these families not only built themselves grand houses but also poured money into their local churches. It is significant that the tiny village churches of Sermano and Rusio do not have organs.
14. The texts of the mass have been translated into Corsican, most notably by the Abbé Guidicelli in the southern capital of Ajaccio and by Canon Alberti in the hamlet of Moncale (U Mucale, Mugale) in the Balagne, and I have on occasion heard the mass celebrated in Corsican or in a mixture of Latin, Corsican and French. The majority of those involved in reviving the singing of the mass in the “old” way, however, adhere to the view that the proper language for the mass is Latin. Meanwhile, the Corsican language itself was once described to me as “really just a modern form of Latin”.
15. Some had also been recorded by Quilici – e.g. Piedicorte (Piedicorti) in 1964 – but remained to all intents and purposes locked away in archives. One of the ironies of the case was that, because of the conditions governing the collecting missions, people in the villages where recordings were made did not usually have access to the recordings themselves.
16. One of the maps in Römer's study, representing a survey of the situation in 1974–5, indicates a total of 33 villages where a single active singer remained (cf. Römer Citation1983, table 8, facing p. 296).
17. Associations, constituted in accordance with legislation dating from 1 July 1901, are a prominent feature of French life. By 2004 Corsica possessed a total of almost 20,000 associations (one for every 13 inhabitants), with almost half the population being involved in some way with the activities of an association.
18. Immediately prior to the French Revolution Corsica had c. 200 active confraternities, the greater proportion of which apparently continued to function despite the interdiction of 1792. In the 20th century, however, they entered a period of unprecedented decline. Those that survived into the 1960s were further destabilized by the fallout from Vatican II; according to one estimate, by the 1970s only 10 remained active to any meaningful degree. In the 1980s, however, this process was reversed and by 2000 around 50 had been reformed.
19. For a discussion of the academic fascination with oral traditions of polyphonic singing in Europe in general, including comment on trends in Corsica itself, see Goffre (Citation1993).
20. The performance group A Cumpagnia was formed at the same time as EVC in order to “put into voice” the results of the association's research, while the Academia d'i Vagabondi was designed to publish it. Among the most prominent long-term members of EVC are Toni and Nicole Casalonga and Nando Acquaviva. Toni Casalonga is a multi-talented artist (sculptor, painter, engraver) who has also occupied key positions in insular politics, including serving as President of the Conseil Économique, Social et Culturel de la Corse. Nicole Casalonga is a singer and organist (originally from southern Corsica), who continues to pursue her own investigations in the field. Nando Acquaviva, in addition to his musical activities, is proprietor of the main supermarket in nearby Île Rousse. All three teach traditional music at Pigna's Saturday music school. Nicole Casalonga and Nando Acquaviva hold the Certificate of Aptitude in the Teaching of Traditional Musics introduced as part of the promotion of traditional and regional forms of expression by Mitterrand's government in the 1980s.
21. The Balagne had, up to this point, received relatively little attention. Römer reports that he found very few traces of local liturgical repertoires in the Balagne in the course of his own research in the 1970s (pers. comm., various dates). EVC's musical interest was initially a by-product of Toni Casalonga's involvement in restoration work in churches in the area. It was this that first brought him into contact with members of the village associations; the conversation later turned to music (Nicole Casalonga, interview July Citation2004).
22. Separate chapters are contributed by members of EVC, on the one hand, and Annie Goffre, on the other. A recapitulation or evaluation of the musicological analysis undertaken by Goffre lies beyond the objectives of the present study.
23. Toni Casalonga comments that in cases where the secunda and bassu voices have been transmitted, the terza does not have many choices: it is more or less obvious where it should be placed. If, on the other hand, it is the secunda and terza that have been transmitted then there are more possibilities for the bassu (pers. comm. April 1995).
24. A full set of transcriptions, together with a more elaborate explanation of the system itself, can be found in CEF-MNATP and EVC (Citation1992) and Acquaviva et al. (Citation1996).
25. Moncale, near Calenzana (Calinzana), was the first village with which members of EVC and Goffre became involved. For the purposes of the present discussion I am concerned with the other three villages that feature in CEF-MNATP/EVC's (1992) account.
26. The Absolution of the Requiem Mass (the Libera Me) was ultimately the only song from the older tradition to survive in living practice in Pioggiola and it is this – in Santu Massiani's words – that provides the direct link with the present. When the village was without an équipe to sing the mass, the Libera Me would be sung by the whole congregation (Massiani interview July Citation2004).
27. This assumes a close structural relationship between items from the sacred and secular repertoires attested in the same location that is generally accepted but would bear further scrutiny. The sisters in question had been taught to sing in polyphony by their father, who had no sons, and represent a celebrated exception to the norm of polyphonic singing as a male prerogative.
28. In his capacity as organ tuner, Massoni further contributed to consolidating EVC's relationship with the village.
29. Elisabeth Pardon, originally from the Continent, has been installed in Corsica with her sculptor husband for many years and has devoted considerable energy to nurturing the cultural heritage of her corner of the Balagne. One of her most recent initiatives has been to design and lead – under the auspices of the Association Saladini de Speloncato – highly entertaining and instructive tours of the island's churches, at each stop recounting the history of the church, its art and its confraternity, as well as playing on its organ. Pierre Oberti, who in addition to his involvement with the renaissance of the Corsican organ has served for many years as mayor of his home village of Muro, is a science lecturer at the University of Corsica.
30. In this case “the last fragment of polyphonic expression” was the Lode of St. Roch, still sung in two parts in the 1970s by Ceccu Saladini and Pierre-Jean Squarcioni (Santu Massiani interview July Citation2004).
31. The response to the rebirth of the old polyphonic masses has, however, not always been unequivocally positive. Singers in one village reported that some local people had been wary at first of the reconstruction initiative, suspecting the singers of nationalist tendencies at a time when it was mainly “the nationalists” who were showing an interest in the “old ways” and in particular in the indigenous style of polyphonic singing. When they saw how much interest was aroused, however, they were reassured.
32. It is again noteworthy that interest in the abandoned liturgical repertoires was rekindled by the inauguration of the restored organ, an event that brought the whole community together and brought the past to life again, with the organ functioning as an important symbolic focus of village identity.
33. Ambrosini is not generally viewed as “a singer” as such but is credited with possessing an excellent memory.
34. Interestingly, Marie Quilici reports that, in the past, while the men sang the mass at the front of the church, some of the women who knew the melodies would join in quietly from their place in the congregation (Pardon interview July Citation2004).
35. Annie Goffre's transcriptions (as reproduced in CEF-MNATP and EVC (Citation1992) and Acquaviva et al. (Citation1996)) use conventional musical notation.
36. Nicole Casalonga also stresses EVC's interest in the process of transmission itself, from a pedagogical point of view (interview July Citation2004).
37. Members of Caramusa have also been associated with Olmi Cappella in a research context. Bernardu Pazzoni, director of the Phonothèque at Corte, is a former member of the group; he is now installed in the village with his family.
38. One singer also expressed the concern that people from outside the island who bought recordings such as those mentioned above might, if they ever found themselves in the village from whose living tradition the material was taken, think that the village singers were “singing it wrong”.
39. It is also the case that material which has long been established as “traditional” in a village in one part of the island might, unbeknown to its practitioners, be derived from the same origin as material similarly fixed in the tradition of another unrelated village in a completely different part of the island. While such cases may be exceptions to the norm, they nonetheless illustrate the complexity of the situation.
40. “Even if there are technical errors,” adds Santu Massiani (interview July Citation2004).
41. These considerations bring to mind Bernard Lortat-Jacob's (Citation1998) work on the psychosocial dimensions of the polyphonic singing traditions of the confraternities of northern Sardinia. Here, Lortat-Jacob makes a distinction between savoir-faire (which might be glossed as a way of doing, but referring specifically to vocal know-how) and savoir-être (a way of being, and more particularly of living together in community). With respect to the village singers featured in my own discussion, vocal savoir-faire might be viewed as something distinct from musical proficiency, while savoir-être, with its implications of social harmonizing, is vital to the success of the enterprise and is, moreover, something that cannot be learnt from a recording.
42. An extreme illustration came to light in the course of a conversation with Nicole Casalonga (September Citation1994). She described the case of an elderly singer attempting to teach his village mass to a group of younger singers. To his ears, they were never able to get it right: “that's not it”, he would repeat, and reportedly said of a mass that they once sang together, “I was singing on my own.” What did he perceive, asks Casalonga, as the essential ingredient that the other singers, and she herself as a listener, constantly missed? Was it that he had grown so accustomed to singing in the same fixed ensemble for so many years that he knew intimately every tiny nuance that had characterized the singing of his fellow singers and that no one else could ever hope to reproduce exactly? Or was it a case of the disjuncture involved in trying to match the living reality of the “new” singers with his less tangible memory of the old?
43. CitationBertoni (currently a teacher of Corsican at Calvi's collège) has been involved with these traditions since he was a young boy. He has now devoted several years to translating the Missal into Corsican.
44. In former times the mass was sung in Speloncato not by the confraternità but by the village cantors. Since there are no longer any cantors as such, it is now the confrères who sing; only a few, however, are able to take the lead voices and they are regarded by the others as the real “singers”. Meanwhile, the women who contributed to the earlier stage of the revival no longer have a clear role.
45. One could say that he sings with the voice of people 200 or 300 years ago, Santu Massiani observes, as we revisit my commentary at a later date; and, he stresses, he uses this voice entirely naturally (interview July Citation2004).
46. Massiani again emphasizes that there is no point to the exercise unless people in the village are happy to accept the reconstruction as their own, and concurs with my own observation that the material needs to correspond not only to people's actual memories but also to how they see themselves now and to a past they want to recognize as their own.
47. Their connection with Moncale is via Tumasgiu Nami from nearby Calenzana, who has been a vital source of support and who often comes and sings with them. Nami (also the village undertaker) has played a key role in the revival of the confraternities in general, lending his practical support to groups in different parts of the island as they have embarked on the often related tasks of re-inaugurating their local confraternità and learning to sing the mass.
48. It is not unusual, Contri says, to be asked to sing for funerals two or three times a week. (The messe des morts is therefore sung far more often than the messe des vivants.) Another singer described to me how he eventually took the decision to change his job after his boss, somewhat exasperated by his regular absences, had said to him: “Now what are you, a mechanic or a singer?” Other singers have commented on the degree of personal investment involved in attending a funeral as a singer, especially if this takes place in another part of the island: you lose a day's pay, as well as having to cover the cost of petrol and perhaps a meal or two away from home. Many nevertheless regularly travel considerable distances in order to help out their friends and to maintain what they see as a vital tradition and service.
49. These problems can also affect the messe des vivants when a particular feast falls on an ordinary working day or when the extreme shortage of priests afflicting many inland areas means that even the main feasts, which might normally coincide with a public holiday, have to be celebrated in a number of neighbouring villages at different times, including a day before or after the feast itself. By dint of the same problem, in a significant proportion of villages it is no longer possible to ensure a regular weekly mass; in some places the mass is celebrated only once a month. Again, this has a knock-on effect in terms of the singing tradition.
50. Goffre has since published a study (Citation2002) of the mass of the southern town of Sartène.