Les said, the better II

Musical Interludes in the Mystère du Siège d’Orléans

Celeste
Hutchins

Proseminar

Final
Paper

 

In
the spring of 1429, things looked bleak for Orléans. The English had nearly encircled the city. They held several defensive
fortifications, including a tower on the bridge, Tourelles. They had constructed several
fortifications called boulevards. Efforts to free the city, such as the Battle of the Herrings had ended
disastrously. The duc d’Orélans
was in an English prison, awaiting ransom. "By March 1429, Orleans seemed ready to fall at he next
serious push." (Pernoud 9) When the city of Orléans fell, the entirety of
the French loyalist side would collapse with it. It seemed only to be a matter of time before the English
were victorious over all of France.

 

On
April 29th of that year, supplies and troops were sent to the besieged
city. Among them was an unusual
young woman, known as the Pucelle. Only a few days later, on May 8th, the English withdrew from the city,
after a series of decisive battles. These victories were attributed to La Pucelle. Pernoud writes, "At the moment that the English were
raising the siege and withdrawing from Orléans, the inhabitants of the city
organizes solemn processions to thank god and the patron saints of the city,
Sts. Aignan and Euverte. This
spontaneous thanksgiving celebration became a procession that continues today,
every May 8." (p 243)

 

The
raising of the Siege of Orléans was the beginning of the end for the
English. By the end of 1453, the
hundred years war was finally over and Charles VII was king. Orléans continues to celebrate its part
in this victory through its annual festivities and La Pucelle who aided
them. Today, Orléans is home to
many statues and monuments of Jeanne d’Arc. The cathedral that she prayed at in between battles has an
altar dedicated to her and series of stained glass windows depicting scenes
from her life. There is a Rue d’
Jeanne d’Arc, a Jeanne d’Arc cafe, a Jean d’Arc Chocolatier, and the academic
Centre Jeanne d’Arc.

 

At
some point, a mystery play, Le Mistere du Siege d’Orléans, was composed about the raising of the siege.
Mystery plays are a genre depicting history. Knight writes,

The Mystery plays, taken as a
whole corpus, dramatized universal history from creation to doomsday . . ..
[T]he mystery plays were historical in sense that they were externally
referential and that their linear model of time had displaced the cyclical
model of time in the liturgy. They
were the collective memory of late medieval Christendom . . . (p 19)

True
to its genre, the Siege depicts
an actual historical event. However, Hamblin notes, “the creation of such a
play based on contemporary historical events still burning in the memory of the
participants and the spectators, represents a true departure from standard
subject matter.” (p 59-60) Bertrin writes in the Catholic Encyclopedia that the
Siege is only one of “only two
profane mysteries which have been preserved.” However, this is a modern
distinction. Knight writes, “the religious-profane dichotomy constitutes a
methodological error” (p 14) and that medieval people did not “make the same
distinction between religious and profane that we make today.” (p 14) The main generic differentiations
between dramas thus does not hinge on the holiness, but in this, case, on
historicity.

 

This
play Le Mistere du Siege d’Orléans
has never been performed in its current form, according to the staff at the
Centre Jeanne d’Arc. Hamblin
writes that it “is nowhere mentioned in fifteenth-century writings.” (p v)
However, its roots may lie in the May 8th festivities, specifically
in 1435. Hamblin writes,
“Undoubtedly, some kind of dramatic presentation did occur in 1435 . . .. This
presentation . . . took place ‘durant la procession,’ as part of the
celebration.” (p 26) The 1435
presentation indicated “a growing secular interest in the celebration.” (p
27) This interest may have been
partially financed by Gilles de Laval, seigneur de Rais, otherwise known as
Bluebeard. “Depositions taken from his inheritors reveal that Rais financed
several mystères, one of which
was in Orléans, where he spent nearly the entire year of 1435.” (p 28-9) Hamblin goes on to note that Rais’
involvement with the play, could explain why “no more mention is made . . . of
any re-enactment of the Tourelles battle after 1439,” (p 29) as Rais was executed
in 1440.

 

The
authorship of the Siege is also
uncertain. Hamblin writes, “no
single author stands out as the most likely source of the Siege” and there is a “possibility that the work is
rather a compilation of the endeavors of several writers, and perhaps several
different time periods.” (p 16) Thus, the play possibly commissioned by Rais may have evolved into the Siege as it now exists. The writer or writers was probably a resident of
Orléans. “The author would have
had to be either native to Orléans or very familiar with and very dedicated to
this final stronghold of Loyalists in the Hundred Years’ War.” (p 10) The Siege names “locations which only local residents would
have recognized.” (p 46)

 

Thus,
we have an obscure play with a processional background. It is not a small play, however. Hamblin writes, “It is a mystère of considerable length, involving more than 120
speaking roles in twenty different sites.” (p 4) Later, she says, “[In] order to recreate the Siege in its present form, we would need ships,
fortresses, tents, break-away towers, walls, a bridge with detachable parts, a
river and an ocean, a means for hovering saints above the stage, canons and
various dead bodies (one of which can lose its head at will).” (p 54) It’s no wonder that the present form of
the play has never been produced.

 

There
is only one extant copy of the Siege. It "is preserved in a single paper manuscript, now in the
Regina collection of the Vatican, but formerly in the library of Fleury."
(Frank 203) “There are no
embellishments or adornments whatsoever in the manuscript.” (Hamblin p 83)
Frank writes, "Our manuscript betrays much interest in the complicated
staging and music required by the play . . .. Detailed rubrics . . . also
indicate exactly which instruments are to be played during the
intermissions." (p 206) Despite this attention to musical detail, there is
no sheet music with the manuscript.

 

The Siege, however, does mention one chant by name, in folio 354r. Hamblin summarizes the action at this point
in the play:

On Saturday,
May 7, the French attack the defense line of the Tourelles. A heavy battle ensues, and the Pucelle
is wounded. She encourages the
soldiers, who go on to victory. Glasidas and others fall into the Loire and drown. The French enter Orléans victorious and
celebrate the English loss. (92)

This is the high point of action in the play and
the victory considered most miraculous. According to audio in the Maison de Jeanne d’Arc, the French forces were
about to quit the attack for the day, when a badly wounded Jeanne came rushing
back to the battle, waving her standard and leading the French to victory. She had also made a prediction that
“Glasidas” [sic] would die without bleeding. The day after this battle, in the play and historically, the
English retreat to the nearby town of Meung. Therefore it is the battle of Tourelles that raises the
siege. It is also the battle that
was re-enacted as a part of the annual thanksgiving procession. This may be the oldest part of the Mystère and if so, the author probably remembered the
battle.

 

In line 13638, the last line on the night of May
7th, La Pucelle orders the town to chant Te Deum laudamus: “Toute la nuit faites sonner Toutes vos cloches en tous lieux, Et à
forte voix sans reserve Chantez Te Deum laudamus.” (Gros 821) The people must
play their bells and chant in a strong voice and without reserve all through
the night. Te Deum was a widely known and a widely used chant in the
Middle Ages, “sung at the end of Matins on Sundays and feast days . . .. It has
also been used as a processional chant, the conclusion for a liturgical drama,
a song of thanksgiving on an occasion such as the consecration of a bishop, and
a hymn of victory on the battlefield.” (Steiner) This usage is clearly as a hymn of victory on the
battlefield as far as the rubrics of the play are concerned. However, since the play also has a
processional background, the chant is doubly appropriate. The Siege is certainly not a liturgical drama, but the
signing of Te Deum may still
have been recognized as a dramatic cue. The play does not end at this point,
but it lacks mentions of specific points to break off for the night. Perhaps this is a logical place to quit
until the next day. The usage of Te
Deum thus arises not only
naturally out of the rubrics and out of history, but exists in other contexts
as well.

 

In actual fact, the historical document, the Journal
of the Siege of Orléans, reports
that “All the clergy and the people of Orléans devoutly sang Te Deum laudamus and rang all the city bells, very humbly thanking
Our Lord for this glorious divine consolation” (Pernoud p 48) Thus, the Mystére, as the name – and the genre – implies, presents
history as the writer and the intended actors would have remembered it.

 

The rubrics of the play in a pause immediately
below La Pucelle’s lines state, “Alors ici il y une grande pause et un grand
bruit dans la ville, de joie et de vif plaisir; toute la nuit sonnerie de
cloches, sonnerie de trompettes et cris: ‘Noël!'” (Gros 821) Here is a large pause and a great joyous noise in
the city: all night bells are rung, trumpets are sounded and people cry,
“Noël!” The play looks like a
historical document here, unless the playwright actually expected people to
blow trumpets all night, or perhaps, as speculated above, he was envisioning
putting a break for the night at this point.

 

The performance practice of Te Deum would have used the sort of instrumentation
contained in the rubrics of the play and recommended by La Pucelle. “[A]
festive performance of the Te Deum was
normally accompanied by instruments (in particular organ and bells), the normal
concomitant of which would be polyphony of some kind. Nevertheless, such
polyphony was essentially improvised . . .. 15th-century settings are rare.”
(Steiner) Although, she goes on, there is a setting by Binchois. Thus, historically, the bells of the
town were rung, but in the rubrics of the play cloches, defined by Pocket
Manual of Musical Terms as
“chimes” (Baker p 56), were used to improvise polyphony. This is the only playing of cloches in
the play.

 

The bells of the village are indicated in the play
in other pauses. There is a typical usage after line 2414, “le beffroi de la
ville sonnera sans cesser durant l’assaut.” (Gros p 165) The bells of the village ring
unceasingly during the attack. The
beffroi always function in this play as indicators of battle. They need not indicate that a battle is
happening, but can also ring when a battle is about to occur, as a cue for the
army to assemble. For example, after line 5242, “Alors le beffroi de la ville
sonnera et ceux de la ville sortiront.” (Gros p 349) The bells, or belfry, of the city will sound and the
citizens will leave. They are
leaving, of course, to go fight a battle.

 

Another particular type of battle bell is the
tocsin, or the alarm bell. In the
pause after line 12174, “Et à
Saint-Loup une cloche sonnera le tocsin, et l’on criera: ‘Alarme!'” (Gros p 775) And in the fortress of
Saint-Loup an alarm bell will sound and someone will cry, “Alarm!” This is the only tocsin in the Siege. The
ringers of it are the English, who are occupying Saint-Loup and whom the French
are attacking.

 

Also linked to armies and battles is the clairon,
the instrument called for second most often. What sort of instrument is meant by “clairon” is not clear.
Non-musicians, when commenting on the Siege, translate this as bugle. This is a logical translation because
the clarions are so often associated with the army in the play. However, since the subject matter of
the play is a military victory, most things in it have at least some
association to the army. If this
was a bugle, then it was a signal horn, made out of a cow’s horn. (Baines) It would have played bugle calls, such as signals to attack,
retreat, assemble, etc. As a
natural horn, it only would have been able to play overtones of the fundamental
pitch, just as modern bugle calls only use harmonics.

 

Gros, when translating the Siege from Old French to modern French, leaves the old
French word clairon intact. The
modern French word clairon unequivocally refers to a bugle. The Old French word may have had a
different meaning. In fact, there
existed a separate term for bugles. Baines begins his bugle article with the entomology for the world
‘bugle’, “In the Middle Ages a not very common Old French word (also cor
buglèr, bugleret) for a small
bovine signaling horn.” Thus there
existed, although not in wide usage, a term that specifically referred to
bugles. 

 

Another possible definition of clairon is “The high
register of a trumpet; in its variant forms, the term also designates a kind of
trumpet.” (Dahlqvist) The Pocket
Manual of Musical Terms defines it
as “a small, shrill-toned trumpet.” (Baker p 55) This term has it’s own entomology. It comes “[f]rom the medieval Latin clario
and claro, the French form ‘claron’ was developed, and in
the 14th century such forms as ‘clairin’, ‘clarin’, ‘clerain’, ‘clerin’,
‘clairon’ (with the diminutives ‘claroncel’, ‘claronchiel’ etc.) began to appear.
‘Clairon’ became the most common of these.” (Dalhqvist) The term ‘clairon’ is
the one used by the playwright or the Siege.

 

There are reasons to believe that the rubrics of
the Siege could have been
intended to refer either to a short, shrill trumpet, or to the high register of
a normal trumpet. “During the
Middle Ages trumpeters played in the low register. Johannes de Grocheo wrote (De
musica, c1300) that only the first
four partials of the harmonic series were used, a fact corroborated by the
earliest surviving trumpet music.” (Tarr, ‘Trumpet’) Thus, if the trumpets in the Siege are only playing in the low register, and the
playwright wanted a sound in the higher register, he would be able to so
indicate in the rubrics by specifically calling for a clairon sound. Or,
perhaps, it was a separate instrument, “Very often clairon and trompette (or
the like) are mentioned in pairs, suggesting two distinct instrument forms. In
1468, for example, Margaret of York was greeted ‘à son de trompes et de clarons’.”
(Dahlqvist) Similarly, “trompettes
et clairons” is oft repeated in the rubrics of the Siege. In
fact, the clairon is never mentioned without also calling for trumpets. Untangling exactly what instrument the
playwright intended to specify is probably impossible, or at least, beyond the
scope of this paper. Dahlqvist
states, “The precise meaning of these terms may never be understood
completely.”

 

One example of the clairon being used as a
signaling instrument occurs in lines 5595-5. Talbot says, “Allons, trompettes et clairons, Sonnez pour
assembler l’armée.” (Gros p 371) Go trumpets and clarions, sound to assemble the army. Interestingly, the rubrics immediately
following Talbot’s speech call for trumpets to be played – but not clairons. “Alors
sonneront les trompettes des Anglais, et ils s’assembleront pour venir
assaillir Orléans.” (Gros p. 371) Then the trumpets of the English will sound and they will be assembled
to go attack Orléans. This may be
an error on the part of the copyist. Hamblin documents many copyist errors and notes that it is the nature of
hand-copied documents to contain errors. However, if it is not an error, it shows that trumpets alone are enough
to signal the army, and thus casts doubt on translating “clairon” to “bugle.”

 

A similar omission occurs around line 15907. La Pucelle says, “Allons! trompettes et
clairons! Pour donner courage et vigueur Aux Français très loyaux et bons . .
..” (Gros p 875) Go trumpets and
clairons! To give courage to the
very honest and good French . . .. The pause immediately below however calls
for ” . . . trompettes et d’autres instruments.” Trumpets and the other instruments. If clairons refer to army bugles, it is
perhaps unlikely that they would be played during an instrumental break, since
their function is to play signal calls. The “other instruments” could refer to
organs, stringed instruments, bells or other instruments not specifically
mentioned in the rubrics of the play. These might make an unlikely paring with bugles.

 

Clairons are also played during military
parades. For example, after line
12198, “Alors elle viendra à Orléans: une pause. – Et tous en bon ordre –
clairons, trompettes -, amènent foison de prisonniers avec les croix rouges,
ligotés;” (Gros p 777) Then La Pucelle will come to Orléans: a pause. And with trumpets and clairons playing,
bound English prisoners will enter in good order. Thus, the French are triumphantly marching English prisoners
(with red crosses) into Orléans. In a pause after line 12678, the French again march with clairons,
“Alors, ici une pause de trompettes, clairons. – Et tous, en ordre harmonieux,
leurs étendards déployés,
partent; ils iront, descendre de cheval au droit des Bouterons, et là se
rassembleront tous.” (Gros p 795) Then, here a pause of trumpets, bugles. – And all will leave, in harmonious
order, with their standards unfurled; they will go, down from their horses, to
the right of Bouterons, and will all gather there.

 

The English army also marches with clairons. The pause after line 8954 indicates,
“Alors ils arriveront joyeusement avec trompettes, clairons; Talbot et d’autres
vont au-devant d’eux.” (Gros p. 569) Then they will joyfully arrive with trumpets and clairons. Talbot and others will go ahead of
them. In addition, battles and
other military actions, such as gathering their arms or putting on armor also
call for clairons.

 

Because the clairon is never played without
trumpets, trumpets fill the same roles as the clairons. Trumpets alone may be specified in
contexts that in other pauses call for trumpets and clairons. For instance, sometimes trumpets alone
are played to assemble the army. Trumpets, however, are called for far more often than clairons,
sometimes in contexts where clairons are not used. No less than forty-seven pauses specifically indicate that
trumpets should play. As noted
above, trumpets were played in the low range. “Medieval trumpeters puffed out their cheeks when blowing
and produced a tone that was described as airy and trembling, not unlike the vibrato
produced by a boy soprano.” (Tarr, ‘Trumpet’) The trumpets of the time were sometimes straight and
sometimes folded. “Shortly before 1400 instrument makers learned to bend brass
tubing . . ..” (Tarr, ‘Slide Trumpet’) 
It is possible that, in order to get more pitch variety, the playwright
may have intended to use – or at
least not objected to – slide trumpets. “The single-slide trumpet seems to have
been introduced . . . – according to Polk (1997) between 1400
and 1420, probably first in Burgundy, then in the Cologne-Flanders area – and
was soon ubiquitous. It was used until the invention of the double slide around
1490.” (Tarr, ‘Slide Trumpet’) Of
course, the Burgundians sided with the English during the Hundred Years War,
making it tempting to speculate that the instrument may have been tainted by
this association. The playwright
simply calls for “trompettes,” but what other name he might have used to refer
to the new instrument is not clear to modern scholars. “Terminology and nomenclature in a
period of transition are always problematic. Early mentions of ‘pusun’, for
example in Basle in 1410, could refer to either the long straight trumpet or
perhaps the slide trumpet; ‘trompette saicqueboute’, in Burgundy in 1468,
probably meant a slide trumpet . . ..” (Tarr, ‘Slide Trumpet’) 

 

One place that trumpets are called for, but
clairons are not, is to play some specific signal calls to the army, such as
sounding a retreat. For example,
in the pause following line 2950, the rubrics indicate, “Ensuite ici les
trompettes des Français sonneront une retraite . . ..” (Gros p 197) Then, here, the French trumpets will sound a retreat. This use of trumpets and not clairons
to play a specific signal call is additional evidence that the clairons were
not bugles. This usage of trumpets
is part of the action of the play. Instead of providing a musical pause, the trumpet playing advances the
plot. There are other examples of
this sort of usage, for instance, heraldry. In line 15665, Lord John instructs his herald to quickly
take his trumpet and make an announcement to the town. “Héraut, prenez votre trompette Vite,
et veuillez écouter . . .” (Gros p 861) The following pause indicates that the
herald plays the trumpet and then makes the announcement. “Alors il sonnera la trompette; ensuite
il dit:” (Gros p 861)

 

For the most part, trumpets are played alone in the
same contexts that they are paired with clairons. That is, they are played during battles, marches, and to
assemble the army.  They also
appear in victory celebrations, for example, when the town chants Te Deum and during the plundering of the defeated town of
Jargeau in the pause after line 16642, “les trompettes sonneront, et la ville
de Jargeau sera pillée: vaisselle d’argent, étain, lits, meubles meublants,
draps, couvertures et tous autres ustensiles de ménage . . ..” The trumpets will sound and the town of
Jargeau will be plundered: silver plate, tin, furniture, cloths, covers and all
other household utensils. This
rubric, like one that calls for trumpets and clairons, also calls for prisoners
to be marched out by the army.

 

The third most-oft appearing musical instrument is
the organ. Unlike, bells,
clairons, and trumpets, the organ fills a purely musical role and is not part
of the action of the play. It is
first called for in folio 171. Hamblin summarizes the action at this point in
the play: 

Charles
kneels and prays to God that He have pity on France. Nostre Dame, Saints
Michel, Euvertre and Aignan convince God that Charles is sincere. He sends
Michel to Barrois, where a young girl will be given the mission of winning the
siege of Orléans. The French, because of their loss of faith, will have no
personal glory in the victory. (p
90)

The pause occurs after God speaks on line 7066, ordering
St. Michel to go to La Pucelle. The rubrics say, “Pause d’orgues. Et il vient auprès de la Pucelle
occupée à garder les brebis de son père et à coudre du linge.” (Gros p 459) Pause of organs. And then he goes to the Pucelle, who is
occupied keeping her father’s ewes and sewing linen. Thus the organ plays while Michel descends from heaven,
possibly a separate stage from where La Pucelle is spinning wool, or, at the
very least, requiring a scene change. Gros attaches a footnote to “orgues,”
where he states, “Pour le première fois, dans le Mystére, ce sont les orgues
qui se font entendre durant la pause Aussi bien le ciel rend-il alors visite à
la terre: le veritable nature de la mission de Jeanne se précise.” (p 459) For
the first time in the play it is the organs which we hear in the pause. It is at this time that the heavens
visit the earth and reveal the precise nature of Jeanne’s mission. Thus Gros implies a connection between
the organ and themes of holiness.

 

As this scene was most likely not intended to be
performed in a church, the organ called for is a portative organ. These small, “easily transported
organ[s],” (Seay p 73) have “a keyboard of up to two octaves.” (Owen) Seay
describes the portative as, “[s]mall and capable of being worked by one man
without assistance, it carried none of the religious overtones associated with
its larger [church organ] brother.” (p 73) However, the rubrics only call for organs on four occasions,
all of which invoke God. The
playwright clearly intends his choice of instrument to convey religious
overtones, as Gros states.

 

Seay goes on to describe the performance practice
of the portative organ. “Since one
hand of the executant was occupied in building up the air pressure, its
position was not that of a polyphonic instrument, but one used in group
performance, as a member of chamber combinations.” (p 73) Hence, the playwright specifies
multiple organs for the pause.

 

Finally, string instruments are mentioned once in
the rubrics of the Siege. The pause after line 17614 says, “Pause
de trompettes, de musiciens jouant d’instruments à cordes, et d’autres
instruments. – Puis après,
le messager arrive devant le roi et dit:” (Gros p 911) Pause of trumpets,
musicians playing of string instruments, and other instruments. – Then after, the messenger arrives in
front of the king and speaks. In
her summary of the action in this folio, Hamblin writes, “A messenger reports
to Charles on the progress made by the French army.” (p 93) This scene takes place at court. The unique mention of strings and other
instruments helps distinguish court musically from outdoor scenes with the
army. Of course, the court scene
would be performed outdoors along with the rest of the play. The music helps provide cues to the
audience about the scene.

 

At the very end of the Siege, “Jehanne again admonishes the citizens to thank
God for these victories, and to conduct processions in memory of the victories
granted them for God.” (Hamblin p 93) Loyal to Jehanne’s wishes, the citizens of Orléans have not forgotten
the procession, but unfortunately, have neglected the play. The recent publication of Gros’
translation into modern French may spark popular interest. Perhaps the Siege, after so many centuries, will finally have a
performance.