cy for some decades already had indeed been improved upon, but had not been robbed of its inherent character of sound: it maintained even as a social instrument its constantly sounding drone pipes.
Since the sustained tones of the hurdy-gurdy are like those of the bagpipes, and its drone sound was familiar to the members of courtly society for a long time, there was no trouble in making the court society accustomed to the sound of the hurdy-gurdy.
Considered from the point of view of repertoire it was favorable for the instrument that a preference for dances and small musical forms existed, from the "Ballets de Cour" of Louis XIV through the 'comedie-ballets' of Lully to the first French operas in the last third of the 17th century.
Thus the sudden enthusiasm of the court is understandable, when towards 1680 the itinerant hurdy-gurdy players La Roze and Janot emerged, whose repertoire consisted mainly of contredanses, menuets and entreés. La Roze was not a particularly good musician, but he understood how to present these popular dances in a pleasing manner, and he sang vaudevilles to the accompaniment of the hurdy-gurdy. The second of these itinerant hurdy-gurdy players, Janot, could play and sing even better than La Roze. Besides dances and vaudevilles he also played the most well-known pieces from Lully's operas [fn]. The members of the court were enthused, so that La Roze and Janot could establish themselves as teachers and instruct a great number of students.
It is not to be thought that La Roze and Janot were
the first hurdy-gurdy players who found an ear in the court. There were certainly numerous hurdy-gurdy players in the streets of Paris, although they probably did not attract attention because they did not play the hurdy-gurdy as it was used in the provinces as these two musicians did. If the hurdy-gurdy players were not previously noticed despite the fact that the musette and its drone sounds had already been popular for a long time, then this can only be grounded on the supposition that not only the repertoire but also the manner of presentation of the beggars differed from those of these two players. This is supported by the report that songs were composed for La Roze and Janot which "dans le caractere de la Vielle jouée par les Aveugles", of which two begin with the words: "Je vis content avec ma Vielle" and "Dieu qui fait tout pour le mieux" [fn][trans SB: "in the style of the hurdy-gurdy played by the blind," "I live in contentment with my hurdy-gurdy", "God who makes all for the best".]. It cannot be established where the two musicians came from. Their repertoire of dances as well as their presentation of them, which was distinguished from the monotonous performance of the beggars, indicate that they came from the country. They probably arrived in Paris as wandering musicians and played there for various occasions, especially however for dances, as the other hurdy-gurdy players of this time also did: "Les vielleurs vont joüer de porte en porte pour faire danser les servants, les enfants, les paysans" [fn] [trans: SB: "The hurdy-gurdy players go from door to door to make the servants, the children and the peasants dance".]
A reference to the different manners of presentation between beggars and dance musicians is given by Jean Baptiste Lully. In 1661 he included two hurdy-gurdy players in the "Ballet de L'Impatience", without causing any excitement in a public accustomed to the sound of the bagpipes. It is true that the composer used the hurdy-gurdy also as an instrument of the blind [fn] and displayed it in this way to a public which had long been familiar with this.
The interest aroused in the hurdy-gurdy by La Roze and Janot was only short-lived, and once again the instrument was entrusted to the folk musicians and to the blind,
before it achieved a longer lasting success in society [fn]. This quickly fading interest had several causes. The sound of the instrument was quite nasal since at this time it still had the third melody string, the "voix humaine" (see page 156). Also many of the French hurdy-g