The Académie de Poésie et de Musique (), later renamed the Académie du Palais, was the first Academy in France. It was founded in 1570 under the auspices of

Charles IX of France Charles IX (Charles Maximilien; 27 June 1550 – 30 May 1574) was List of French monarchs, King of France from 1560 until his death in 1574. He ascended the French throne upon the death of his brother Francis II of France, Francis II in 1560, an ...

by the poet

Jean-Antoine de Baïf Jean Antoine de Baïf (; 19 February 1532 – 19 September 1589) was a French poet and member of the '' Pléiade''. Life Jean Antoine de Baïf was born in Venice, the natural son of the scholar Lazare de Baïf, who was at that time French amb ...

and the musician

Joachim Thibault de Courville Joachim Thibault de Courville (died 1581) was a French composer, singer, lutenist, and player of the lyre, of the late Renaissance. He was a close associate of poet Jean Antoine de Baïf, and with Baïf was the co-founder of the '' Académie de P ...

.Grove, Academy

Overview

The purpose of the Académie was to revive Classical

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

poetry and music. It met regularly at Baïf's house in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and had two classes of members — "musicians", or poets, singers and instrumentalists; and "auditors", or subscribers who helped support the academy financially. Baïf's intention was to revitalise and transform

French poetry French poetry () is a category of French literature. It may include Francophone literature, Francophone poetry composed outside France and poetry written in other languages of France. French prosody and poetics The modern French language does not ...

by applying the ancient

metres The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

(''vers mesurés à l'antique'') to it, and combining it with simple music following ancient metres ('' musique mesurée à l'antique''). Although the ostensible purpose of the Académie was musico-poetic, Baïf's goals were much more ambitious – he hoped that through a structuring of French poetry, he might bring about a more structured social order and morality. This goal followed from

Neo-Platonic Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...

ideals, where music and morality are closely linked. To this end, discussions were not limited to music and poetry, but also included discussions of

Natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe, while ignoring any supernatural influence. It was dominant before the develop ...

, mathematics, and other subjects. Baïf was influenced at least in part by the '' Accademia Platonica'' of

Marsilio Ficino Marsilio Ficino (; Latin name: ; 19 October 1433 – 1 October 1499) was an Italian scholar and Catholic priest who was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance. He was an astrologer, a reviver of Neo ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. Other influences on the creation of the Académie were the teacher and poet

Jean Daurat Jean Daurat (Occitan: Joan Dorat; Latin: Auratus) (3 April 15081 November 1588) was a French poet, scholar and a member of a group known as '' The Pléiade''. Early life He was born Joan Dinemandy in Limoges and was a member of a noble family. ...

Pierre de Ronsard Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet known in his generation as a "Prince des poètes, prince of poets". His works include ''Les Amours de Cassandre'' (1552)'','' ''Les Hymnes'' (1555-1556)'', Les Disco ...

, and other members of ''

La Pléiade La Pléiade () was a group of 16th-century French Renaissance poets whose principal members were Pierre de Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay and Jean-Antoine de Baïf. The name was a reference to another literary group, the original Alexandrian Pleia ...

'', a literary group. Despite Baïf's goals of spreading his philosophy, the Académie kept the art of measured poetry and music a secret.Grove, Baïf In order to help further his goals, Baïf enlisted the help of French musicians, the most influential of whom was

Claude Le Jeune Claude Le Jeune (; 1528 to 1530 – buried 26 September 1600) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance. He was the primary representative of the musical movement known as '' musique mesurée'', and a significant composer of the "P ...

. Le Jeune's experiments influenced musical setting of French poetry, including the use of irregular metres in the ''

air de cour The ''air de cour'' was a popular type of secular vocal music in France in the late Renaissance and early Baroque period, from about 1570 until around 1650. From approximately 1610 to 1635, during the reign of Louis XIII, this was the predominant ...

'', for several generations, despite the influence of the academy itself being much shorter in duration. Other musicians involved included

Eustache du Caurroy François-Eustache du Caurroy (baptised February 4, 1549 – August 7, 1609) was a French composer of the late Renaissance. He was a prominent composer of both secular and sacred music at the end of the Renaissance, including ''musique mesurée'', ...

and

Jacques Mauduit Jacques Mauduit (16 September 1557 – 21 August 1627) was a French composer of the late Renaissance. He was one of the most innovative French composers of the late 16th century, combining voices and instruments in new ways, and importing some of ...

.Rare Materials Digital Services at UVA
/ref> When Charles IX died, the Académie became far less active. It had a renaissance for a short time under

Henry III of France Henry III (; ; ; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575. As the fourth son of King Henry II of France, he ...

when it met in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

under the name Académie du Palais. At this time Guy du Faur de Pibrac took over, and the focus of the group shifted to oratory and debate.

References

;Notes ;Sources * Brown, Howard Mayer; Iain Fenlon (2001). "Academy 4. French academies.", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'', ed. L. Macy (accessed March 18, 2007)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access). * Dobbins, Frank (2001). "Jean-Antoine de Baïf", ''

'', ed. L. Macy (accessed March 18, 2007)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access). * Fremy, Édouard (1887)
''L'Académie des derniers Valois : Académie de poésie et de musique, 1570-1576, Académie du palais, 1576-1585, d'après des documents nouveaux et inédits''
Paris: Ernest Leroux. * Yates, Frances (1947; 1988). ''The French Academies of the Sixteenth Centuries''. London:

Warburg Institute The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the University of London in central London, England. A member of the School of Advanced Study, its focus is the study of cultural history and the role of images in culture – cros ...

(1947). . London and New York: Routledge (1988). .

External links

*
Larousse
{{DEFAULTSORT:Academie De Poesie Et De Musique French poetry 1570 establishments in France Renaissance music Academies of arts