From Naples to Paris The Reception of the Neapolitan Partimento Tradition at the Paris Conservatoire in the Early Nineteenth Century

This study investigates the reception of partimento at the Conservatoire between its foundation in 1795 and 1840. The circulation of partimento in France in the nineteenth century is evinced by the monumental works of Choron, the Principes d'accompagnement des écoles d'Italie, and the Principes de composition des écoles d'Italie, alongside the French edition of Fenaroli's partimenti edited by Imbimbo. These publications notwithstanding, the use of partimenti in teaching at the Conservatoire has never been explored. The Conservatoire initially emulated institutions such as the Neapolitan Conservatori, with the goal of producing French musicians and singers as successful as their Italian colleagues. Drawing on archival documents, manuscripts, and printed manuals, I reconstruct teaching at the Conservatoire and explore elements of partimento in these sources. I examine the teaching of harmonie and accompagnement at the Conservatoire. Through contact with French theories, partimento was transformed, used differently in harmony and accompaniment. It was relegated to an accompaniment practice and/or basse donnée, losing its role as a tool for improvisation and composition. Although this assimilation process created some changes in partimento teaching, it contributed to the creation of a new French school of music.