464 pp.; 21 x 14,8 cm

This volume thoroughly reconstructs the musical life at the San Luigi dei Francesi national church, Rome, during the 18th century, through a painstaking analysis of the archival sources now at the Pieux Établissements de la France à Rome et à Lorette. The book, cast in three parts, investigates the changes in liturgical music after the demise of the regular chapel and highlights the pivotal role of “extraordinary music” in celebrating France and building its prestige. Ample space is given to discussing methods. Defining concepts like “feast”, “extraordinary ceremony”, and “extraordinary music” is vital to decipher such a codified ritual system, so rich in cultural, social, and political connections. Also, the distinction between voluntary and involuntary sources let us accurately grasp the deep structure of the celebrations. Through the intersection of chronicle and accounting, intentional documentation and marginal evidence, this book offers a new key to understanding the musical liturgy in period Rome, an international and culturally layered city.

Michela Berti is a Music History professor at the “Francesco Morlacchi” Conservatory, Perugia, and runs the Pieux Établissements de la France à Rome et à Lorette archive. A 2013-2015 Marie Curie Fellow for the project Le modèle musical des églises nationales à Rome à l'époque baroque, Université de Liège, she edited the volume Music and the Identity Process: the National Churches of Rome and their Networks in the Early Modern Period (Brepols: Épitome musical 2019) together with Émilie Corswarem. From 2016 to 2022, she coordinated the research activities and ran the ERC CoG PerformArt project database, while editing with Anne-Madeleine Goulet Noble Magnificence: Cultures of the Performing Arts in Rome, 1644-1740 (Brepols: Épitome musical 2024). In 2010-12, she worked at the École française de Rome, the Deutsches Historisches Institut in Rom, and the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften for the ANR-DFG project “Musici”, to scholarly oversee its database. Her studies focus on musical life in 17th - and 18th -century Rome and on digital humanities, especially on database management and the creation of music thesauri.