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'Charpentier’s Void Notation: The Italian Background and its Implications'

One of the more distinctive aspects of Charpentier’s autograph manuscripts is the extensive presence of _croches blanches_ – void flagged semiminims and shorter note values. Previous scholars, in discussing the composer’s predilection for this style of notation, have inadvertently given the impression that it had been in continuous use in France since the fifteenth century. This is not so, however: during the period between 1550 and 1670, _croches blanches_ are strikingly absent from French sources. Indeed, in late seventeenth-century France this notation was regarded by such theorists as Jean Rousseau, Étienne Loulié and Sébastien de Brossard as a foreign – more specifically an Italian – characteristic. It appears that Charpentier, having encountered void notation during his youthful studies in Rome in the late 1660s, single-handedly imported it to France, where it was eventually adopted by such Italophile composers as François Couperin and Nicolas Bernier. Sadler’s chapter traces Charpentier’s role in this development, exploring his motives for adopting a style of notation that was already obsolescent in Italy, and examining whether or not it has implications for performance – in particular, for the choice of tempo or the avoidance of _notes inégales_. This is the first of a series of articles (one described in Sadler_04 and three others at press) in which Sadler explores the Italian roots of various aspects of Charpentier’s style and technique. It thus forms part of a wider initiative, pursued in conjunction with Thompson (q.v.), to the reveal the extent to which Charpentier anticipated Couperin’s _réunion des goûts_ by several decades.