Préservons les partitions de Royaumont

Royaumont is launching its first crowdfunding campaign. 

The goal: restoration of 48 musical works of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries threatened by the ravages of time and by wear and tear.

These valuable ink and paper artifacts in the François-Lang Music Library include a collection of operas and French cantatas dating back to the Grand Siècle (some of which belonged to the Louis of France, the Grand Dauphin, and to Madame de Pompadour); a rare copy of Zarlino’s Le istitutioni harmoniche (1594), a compendium of the musical knowledge of the 16th century; and first editions of works for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Urgent restoration work is needed to enable Royaumont to conserve this heritage and continue to make it available to musicians, students and musicologists.

The Library’s 1,300 music manuscripts and printed materials collected by pianist François Lang (1908-1944) support the work of the many musicians who spend time at Royaumont. The Library recently provided guidance to the Raphaël Pichon's Pygmalion ensemble in its work on Rameau’s operas; enabled Bertrand Cuiller to record the complete program of Rameau’s works for harpsichord; supported Edoardo Torbianelli in his exploration of Chopin; and gave Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas an opportunity to adapt symphonic works for organ.

Are you a musician, musicologist, music lover or interested in the creative process?

Help us restore the scores in the François-Lang Music Library (BmFL) by donating 10, 50, 100 or 2,000 euros on KissKissBankBank before March 31, 2017.