Hymns

It is as a result of reflection on the hundred years since the separation of the Church from the State that this theme has developed, encompassing the question of the sacred, the collective, the religious, of articulation at an ideological level. A comparison with the practices of other nations is also possible. It is a topic to be explored in the medium term, rather than with immediate effect.

The voice and the sacred in the baroque era

 
This topic is an important facet of Ambronay's research, and allows the integration of the practical application of this research within the Centre's activities. 2005's theme of the castrati found a particular resonance due to it also being the 300th anniversary of the birth of Farinelli. Not that it is necessary to follow current commemorative trends, but this particular voice exercised a grip on the collective imagination which can be felt even to this day. Why is it such a fashionable subject? We can associate with it part of the thinking on flamenco or jazz, where the more the voice is imbued with its own past, its own story, the more beautiful it becomes.

The representation of the tragic

With a masterclass on the Leçons de ténèbres, it is perhaps interesting to compare baroque and contemporary representations of the tragic. What does the enjoyment of music and the enjoyment of violence mean? This can also be a means of reflecting upon the ambivalent nature of music as well as the sacred.