ABSTRACT
The repertory of cantiques spirituels at Saint-Cyr was not only large but also extremely varied, ranging from simple plain-chant musical melodies to operatic airs. The plain-chant musical "Psaumes de Mr de Noailles" range in length from thirty-five to sixty whole notes: slightly longer than the other "Psaumes." Musically, all these cantiques are in the style of plain-chant musical, and are almost indistinguishable in style from similar works in the "Psaumes de Mr de Noailles."The large number of cantiques spirituels in Saint-Cyr's repertory demonstrates the important place occupied by spiritual music with French texts, both in the educational curriculum and as a part of recreation. Some original cantiques spirituels were published among the parodies, including Abeille'sTriomphez et regnez and Bacilly's Echos qui repondez. Jean Racine's Cantiques spirituels are in a similar vein; rather than paraphrases, Racine composed four poems inspired by passages from the Bible.
