CHOISEUL
694
CHOISEUL
most famous were those of Metz and St. Gall, in the
eighth century. The current system of oral instruc-
tion rendered such schools necessary. About the
year 1100, after the introduction of the musical staff,
they began to decline in importance. So thoroughly
was music practised in the medieval song-schools con-
nected with churches or monasteries, founded for the
purpose of setting forth the liturgy with the utmost
splendour and beauty, that until the Protestant Ref-
ormation, the history of music is practically the
history of church music. Yet even about the four-
teenth century the gradual substitution of musica
in, nr.iirata for the cantilena romana, part-music for
unisonous, wrought an increasing change in the rela-
tion of choir to altar. This change was marked when
Pope Gregory XI, in 1377, returned to Rome from
Avignon, where the new music had nourished, and
amalgamated His choir with the schola cantorum, re-
organizing it under the title Collegia dei CapeUani
Cantori and placing it under a Maestro della Capella
Pontificia. The choir now became more laicised
and self-contained. It had grown out of, and been
shaped by liturgical needs. Its place was in the
sanctuary, its members were ecclesiastics or boys
brought up under ecclesiastical direction in a house
attached to the cathedral. Now it might occupy a
gallery and be ruled by a layman. Yet the school of
composition associated with this change was largely
built upon plain-chant, and produced such masters
of religious music as Palestrina, Vittoria, and Byrd.
Later, the introduction of female voices, the tolera-
tion of mixed choirs, and the secularization in style of
the music sung, brought about a still greater depart-
ure from the idea and influence of St. Gregory's schola
cantorum. During the present liturgical revival, how-
ever, boys who have been actively employed in church
music for so many centuries (we find them mentioned
indeed as early as the fourth century) are gradually
taking their old place in the constitution and func-
tions of the Christian choir.
I n, i U podia Biblica (London, 1S99); Gerbert, De Cunlu ii Mv u I Sfl ' W.v.NEH. lliMoru of Plain Chant (London. 1907); )ht\ Choirs and Choral Music (London. 1901>; Hi imie.sne. i iinsiinii Worship i London, 1903 i : Baumer, His- i.inv ,/;. bnrinire (Paris, 1905); Grove, Diet, of Music and \i ins i London, 1S96); Gastoue, Les Origines (in chant
rorru w I (Paris, 1907).
Wilfrid G. A. Shebbeare.
Choiseul, Etienne-Francois, Due de, French statesman, b. 28 June, 1719; d. in Paris 8 May, 1785. Until his thirty-seventh year lie pursued a military career and was known as the Comto de Stainville, his social standing being such as to permit him to marry the daughter of Crozat, the wealthy financier, in 1750. So caustic was his speech that he was often i leclared t o be t he original of Gresset's " Mediant " and , despite his clever manoeuvring, he was in no special favour at court until he rendered Madame de Pom- padour a service by informing her of d'Argenson's scheming to make his kinswoman, Madame de Choiseul-Romanet, the mistress of King Louis XV. He even went so far as to transmit to the favourite a letter from Madame de Choiseul-Romanet which proved the conspiracy. Madame de Pompadour recompensed Clioisenl by having him appointed am- bassador to Home in 1754. lie occupied this post from 5 November, 1754, to 23 January, 1757, at which time religious France was disturbed by the
contest between parliament and the clergy in regard to the Bull "UnigenitUS". In 1752 the Parliament of
Paris had condemned the practice of certain priests who exacted a certificate of confession from all sick
i pie requesting the sacraments and deprived of the
those whom they called appelants, thai is to say, who refused to acknowledge the Bull "Unigeni- Louis X\ look issue with the clergy, dis- solved the parliament at Pontoise in 1753 and sum- moned it to Paris again in 1751, ordering silence on
all religious controversies. At the Assembly of the
Clergy of France in 1755, it was manifest that on this
question of confession-tickets the episcopate was
divided, and the pope had to intervene. Choiseul
negotiated with Benedict XIV, and the Bull "Ex
Omnibus", solicited by Louis XV, was the occasion
of numerous conferences between Rome and Ver-
sailles, being finally published, 16 October, 1756.
This re-established religious peace in France. " By
following the course it prescribes", said de Pressy,
Bishop of Boulogne, "one wall be in no danger of
exposing the sacrament to scandalous profanation by
administering it to the refractory or of subjecting to
unjust defamation those to whom it should not be
publicly refused." Thanks to this peaceful adjust-
ment of affairs, the Jansenists lost all political pres-
tige in France. A few days after issuing the Bull
Benedict XIV fell ill and Choiseul wrote several
letters and memoirs concerning the expected con-
clave. These were recently published and they
enlighten us as to how the ambassadors of that
time watched the pontifical court and planned how
they should use the right of veto in the conclave.
However, Choiseul left the Roman embassy in
1757 for that of Vienna without having seen a
conclave.
Reaching Vienna, 20 August, 1757, he gave his attention to the confirmation of the Franco- Austrian alliance, a decisive episode in the French politics of the day. France renounced its secular struggle against the House of Austria and joined forces with the latter against Prussia. This policy of the Hen- versement des Alliances, regarding which historians have held very conflicting views, received but poor support from the courts of Paris and Vienna where political anarchy then reigned supreme; it was with great regret that Choiseul declared that "both courts lacked the good order indispensable to the furtherance of great projects". In November. 1758, Choiseul replaced the Abbe de Bernis as Minister of Foreign Affairs; in 1761 he became Minister of War, and in 1762 Minister of the Navy. "I am like the miser's coachman", said he, "sometimes in stable- coat, sometimes in apron; at the command of all." For twelve years he governed France, his meat capac- ity for work and unusual gift of assimilation being of decided value to him. At first he was said to be "a dandy utterly lacking in ability but in whose mind gleamed a bit of phosphorus"; a few years later, ac- cording to Catherine of Russia, this dandy had be- come "the coachman of Europe". Nothing was beyond the scope of his activity. He reduced tin- expenses of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from fifty-eight to seven millions, reorganized the artillery and military engineering corps, and, although con- fronted with perpetual threats of war, sought to avenge the insults that France had received from England during the Seven Years' War. "The navy", he said, "will achieve cither the salvation or the downfall of France"; and thanks lo the combined efforts of Choiseul and his cousin Praslin to re-estab- lish the navy, France was enabled in 1768 to annex Corsica without any opposition whatever on the part of England. Moreover, ill 177V it aided the United States in shaking off the yoke of England and in 1783 recovered its place as a colonial power.
"Choiseul", said Talleyrand, was "the man who had the clearest insight into tin- future". He dreamed of a greater France and contemplated nations for the cession of Egypt to France. Hofl ever, owing to lack of persistency his attempts ai
colonizal were not verj successful; the venture in
Guiana ended disastrously, and that in Madagascar, due lo the private initiative "i the Comte de Man dave, did not receive sufficient encouragement from
the Government. Nevertheless, Choiseul, by his colonial plans at least, initiated a policy which was
