Mapping Early Modern Parisian Sound Worlds

Abstract

The digital project which forms the focus of this article is the website www.parisiansoundscapes.org. Both the theory and practice of attempting to recreate the sound worlds and particularly the song culture of early modern Paris are discussed in this article, starting with the research-based background to the project, with the publication of two monographs, and moving to the musical collaboration with the period instrument group Badinage. The importance of the Pont Neuf both as an auditory space and as the location where street songs were most often performed is analysed, followed by consideration of the various challenges that we have encountered in attempting to recreate the sound worlds of the 1600s and 1700s. The three major features of the website - transcription of handwritten manuscripts, song recordings, and song tunes - are highlighted, as are the future plans for the development of the project.