The Early Cantata Composers (i) Jean-Baptiste Morin And The Emergence Of The Eighteenth Century French Cantata

Abstract To the minds of eighteenth-century writers on the subject there was no doubt that the paternity of the French cantata could be traced to Jean Baptiste Morin (1677-1745), ordinaire de la musique in the household of the Duke of Orleans. The Duke’s enthusiasm for Italian music may have been kindled by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, who taught composition to the future Regent of France,1 and, as has been mentioned earlier, the royal pupil in turn encouraged his musicians to compose and perform in the Italian style. The House of Orleans seems to have been a veritable incubator of musical Italianism in France, and it is therefore not at all surprising that the first three French composers to publish books of cantatas inspired by the Italian form were attached in some way to Philippe Ill’s household.