Catholicism as Musical Discourse

Catholicism as Musical Discourse reveals the important role that French-language sacred songs, written primarily for women, played in the evolution of the Catholic Reform over the long seventeenth century. By singing sacred songs--called cantiques, spiritual or devotional airs--reformers believed that principles of Catholicism would be easier to learn, remember, and affect women's behavior. This book shows that various interpretations of Catholicism were not only transformed over time but also how and why. Most importantly, it demonstrates that sacred songs became a part of the Catholic Church's effort to mediate and shape the role of women in French society.