Bulletin Mnémo 2000

35) Musical Instruments in New France

We know that the French settlers who arrived in New France left a legacy of thousands of songs which make up today's repertoire. But the situation is totally different as concerns instrumental music; nothing seems to have survived in this domain and the only musical instrument which remains is the violin. Is this to say that there were very few instrumentals and musical instruments under the French regime? For a long time, this was thought to have been the case, and it was thought that life was so hard that the musical arts had languished here. But the fact is that the history of music was generally examined from the perspective of the elite, or focused on the lives of great composers and their works. Since neither were to be found in New France, it was presumed that nothing had occurred. But by taking a different approach, especially by examining the musical instruments of the day, much can be told on the musical activities of the time. The historic record mentions from time to time the use of certain musical instruments. Jacques Cartier, on his second voyage to Canada, wrote of having musicians play the trumpet and other instruments, which was most appreciated by the assembly . The trumpet was then a long brass tube, curved like a trombone, with a funnel-like mouth-piece and a conical bell flare. The instrument was used by the military during warfare for signaling maneouvres, as well as for official functions and festivities. They were also used on ships for communicating with sailors and with other ships, which is why Cartier had some on his ship. There are several mentions of their use during the 17th century, also noted are the use of fifes and drums . The fife was a little wooden transverse flute, with a very sharp sound; used by the military and accompanied by a drum, the fife commanded the pace of the march of the soldiers. These flute players also played a larger transverse flute, known as the "flute d'Alle-magne". On occasion, it was pressed into service for more dignified events such as church services, along with other instruments such as the violin, as for the Christmas Eve service on the 24 December 1645

The religious elite and the well-to-do

The use of the recorder flute seems to have been widespread, and it was used for religious services as well in the homes of the nobles and of the bourgeois. After missionnary Louys André discoverd that music appealed to the natives and it could be successfully used as a recruting tool, instruments continued to be used in their proselyting efforts. The Ursulines taught the viola de gamba (or bass viola) to their young bourgeois ladies who boarded at the convent, as well as to the young native girls, and some of the latter were very proficient at the instrument . Played by the nobility since the 16th century, the viola de gamba ressembled the cello, was played with a bow, although the tuning of the six strings ressembled that of a guitar. As there were frets, it was considered easier to learn by amateur musicians, be they nobles or bourgeois. The Intendant Dupuis had two, M. Begon, the governor of Trois-Rivières owned one, and the Jesuits had several, and they were played for church services . The luth was also very popular among the nobility and, in 1693, a Sulpician missionnary asked his superior for permission to use the one left behind by sieur de Maisonneuve for church services. His superior acquiesed on the condition that it be used for this purpose only, and "not to excite the passions" . There were also organs in the churches, harpsichords and clavichords were found in the homes of the well-to-do. A serpent (a type of French horn) player even accompanied the plain-chant in a church of Quebec City.
Fewer references are available concerning the instruments used by ordinary folk, but we now that in 1645, violins were used at a wedding in Quebec City . During the first half of the 18th century, the use of the violin was widespread, as balls were held regularly and dancing was an important activity of the soldiers garrisoned in the city. But there are also mentions of the guitar, of the hurdy-gurdy, and a famous engraving shows fisherman butchering a whale on the side of the St. Lawrence while a piper plays the bagpipes.
The Instruments:
Under the French Régime, we know a lot more about the instruments used by the elite than by those of the common people. Many of the instruments owned by the former, such as the viola, the lute, various types of flutes, and other types which were used in their drawing rooms, probably returned to France with their owners after the British Conquest of French North America in 1763. But other less expensive instruments remained, we shall examine the violin, the whistle and other peasant flutes, as well as the guitar. From its inception, the French considered the violon as popular instrument, and it was played for dances and was very popular. The Italians, however, used it for classical music, a use which the French did not accept for some time. However its use on a popular scale was phenomenal. It was considered to be a simple instrument to play, because of its four strings and the fretless neck, and its sound was dynamic, vigourous and pleasing. It was used for balls, dances, ballets, mascarades, aubades, feasts and other joyous pastimes, and was thought to be better at this type of recreation than any other instrument . In New France, it was through balls and wedding dances that the violin came to be accepted. In 1645, two fiddlers are present at the wedding of the grand-daughter of Louis Hébert, the first settler to arrive in New France . Balls are most frequent in New France. The soldiers, who spend their summers fighting the British and the Indians, returned to their garrison in the winter, where they passed the time by attending balls and partaking in long sleigh rides. The peasants often organized festivities in the countryside which lasted for several days and which everyone attended; one such event organized in December was ten leagues out of the city and had taken a entire day of travel by horse-drawn sleigh to reach, and then had lasted for five days . The clergy lambasted this sort of activity regularly in their sermons, denouncing the dances as laviscious, and as being occasions for liscencious acts and fornication, calling mothers adulteresses for allowing their daughters to partake in them. Although some of the notables agreed with the parish priests and promised to eschew the giving of balls, one correspondant noted that that one such individual's daughters were away at time attending such an event . At the time, the French did not make must of a mystery about the violin, as did the Italians, who experimented with the varnish, the quality of the wood and the thickness of the soundboard... In 1625, the inventory of the deceased François Richomme, instrumentalist at the King's Court, a violon from Cremonaa is worth 90 £ sterling, while a fiddle from Lorraine is only worth 8 £. The French artisans made fiddles in great quantities, which they sold cheap, often unvarnished. Its easy accessibilty and low price lead us to think that in the mind of the less well-to-do making one's one fiddle was not impossible. This mentality is probably what led to it becoming the instrument of popular choice in New France.

The guitar
La guitare
First popularized in Spain, it during the 16th century that the guitar became popular in Italy and France. As with the violin, in France, the guitar was eschewed by classical musicians, who preferred the lute, although they admitted it was easier to play . As the instrument was playing by strumming the strings to play chords rather than picking the strings as was the lute. The guitar was found in New France, as it is itemized from time to time in last wills and testaments, but it tended to remain an individual instrument, as compared to fiddle which was used at gatherings. It was used in homes for personal accompaniment to the songs called Vaudevilles which were in style durign the 17th century.
The flute
The flute is a bit trickier. Pratically all civilizations have used the flute, and the instrument is found even among the lower classes. The recorder flute generally only has six holes for the fingers, while the classical recorder has nine. They are called flûtes, flutiaux, pipeaux, flageolets. In France, these were often played by peasants and especially shepherds. In North America, natives also played various flutes, including nose flutes . The flageolet or whistle must be mentioned as it was played as much as the recorder, and it remained an instrument of the common people, and was never incorporated for use in classical music. In principle it was a flute with six apertures, of which four were on top of the instrument and two were below and were conrolled with the thumbs. Although no documents attest to its use in New France, we can presume that it probably was.
par Gilles Plante

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