Early Music in an Interdisciplinary Artistic Production: The Project Pluvinel’s Academy

Abstract

This chapter explores the previously completed interdisciplinary performance project Pluvinel’s Academy by investigating the production process, aesthetic dimensions and educational relevance. Early music repertoires and historical narratives are the core elements of the performance concept, which is inspired by the American musicologist Kate van Orden’s book Music, Discipline, and Arms in Early Modern France (van Orden, 2005), and the article “Komponisten som smisket med Solkongen” by Rolfhamre (2017). Pluvinel’s Academy was a pilot project which presented a combination of artistic expressions and equestrian sport, developed in an educational environment and presented in a riding hall. The participant group included fifteen music performance students, professional guest performers and a group of riders and their horses. The various aspects of the project will be presented and discussed in relation to artistic research perspectives and the early music objectives presented in this anthology, primarily related to pedagogy. The chapter highlights creating new works of art, the Pluvinel’s Academy performance, and suggests that early music is valuable as material in an interdisciplinary performance concept in pedagogical settings.