Faà di Bruno, Giovanni Matteo [Horatio, Orazio] Fabbri, Anna Maria

(i) The ecclesiastical maîtrises.

The immediately striking feature of this distribution is the almost total absence of choir schools in the south of the country. The number of choirboys varied from four to eight, depending on the chapter’s resources, and they would live in a community under the control of a master appointed by the chapter. The foundation of a maîtrise was almost always made possible by the allocation or assignment of prebends of canonries by the pope or the king. The appointment of not only a maître de musique but also a maître de grammaire, thus ensuring that the boys received a general education, varied from place to place (as did the organization of the maîtrises and their role in the wider community). At Chartres, for instance, the maître de grammaire was in charge of the maîtrise until the 16th century, when the maître de musique took over responsibility for the management of the school. A group of trained adult choristers, who had often taken minor orders, assisted the choirboys in providing music for the office. Certain benefices were reserved for these choristers, and depending on the area they might be described as clercs de matines (Notre Dame, Paris), petits and grands vicaires (Cambrai), chapelains-chantres (Langres), heuriers-matiniers (Chartres), or cantoreaux (Toulouse). While the maîtres de musique were always clerics at this period, organists enjoyed a more independent position in the maîtrises.

In addition to the cathedral and collegiate churches the saintes-chapelles enjoyed a special standing. They were exempt from ecclesiastical jurisdiction and were under the direct protection of the king or one of the great princes, but their choir schools were organized in exactly the same way as those of the cathedrals or collegiate churches. They comprised the Ste-Chapelle du Palais in Paris, founded by St Louis, which had six choirboys in 1305 and was directed by a cantor from 1319; the Ste-Chapelle of Bourges founded by Jean, Duke of Berry in 1405, also with six choirboys, in which composers such as Grenon, Basiron and Fedé held the post of maître; and the Ste-Chapelle of Dijon founded by Philippe ‘the Good’ (1396–1467) in 1425 with four choirboys.

These maîtrises soon constituted a network extending over the whole country. They not only provided music for the liturgical offices but also encouraged the teaching of plainchant, and subsequently of polyphony and composition. A musician’s compositional talents became a major factor in his appointment as a maître; it was his task to compose original works for solemn feasts and other important occasions. Some maîtrises acquired a special reputation for composition, including Cambrai, with Guillaume Du Fay as master, and Chartres (with Mureau, Antoine Brumel and Fresneau), Orléans (Johannes Tinctoris) and Laon (Grenon). There were many exchanges with the chapels of the princely courts; the best cantors of Philippe ‘the Good’, Duke of Burgundy, came from the Ste-Chapelle and Notre-Dame in Paris as well as Cambrai. The maîtrises also took part in mystery and morality plays (see Medieval drama) and even (outside the liturgical context) in farces, despite repeated prohibitions issued by the ecclesiastical hierarchy. In 1465, for instance, the synod of Troyes banned the Feast of Fools, which was actually held inside churches at Epiphany and gave the choirboys a chance to let off steam. However, it continued to be held in many places well beyond the Middle Ages.