This project – which explored the musical life of Renaissance Avignon (c.1500–1630) at all levels of society, from top to bottom – had two main objectives. The first of these was to help shift the focus of research on French Renaissance music away from the royal court and Paris, as has traditionally been the case in musicological circles. By shedding light on the musical life of a city that remains almost completely underexplored for this period, it also sought to demonstrate how events happening at a regional, national, and international level had an impact on music-making within a single city in France at this time.
A second main objective was to draw attention to the project’s findings as widely as possible, not just within the musicological community and scholars working in other fields (both within the Anglophone and Francophone academic spheres), but even among the public at large. The hope, in essence, was that the project would (and will) ultimately encourage much more research on the urban musical life of Renaissance France in future. In light of the increasing attention given in recent years to ‘soundscapes’ studies, this objective has added importance. Work has already been done on many other countries and regions in this domain, but equivalent research focused specifically on France is, to date, practically nonexistent.