Mont en chantée – A musical ascent of Mont Aiguille

This work follows on from the Carmo research project – aimed at scientifically reconstructing the first ascent of Mount Aiguille – and the film Retour au mont Aiguille.

On this first ascent, we know that songs such as Salve Regina and Te Deum resounded at the summit of Mont Aiguille. A mountain climb stimulates the senses, between flora and fauna, minerals and torrents, noise and silence. Echo has always seduced climbers and musicians, particularly during the Renaissance.

The Montagne en chantée project invites us to rediscover the musical and sensory dimension of this first ascent of Mont Aiguille, and to attempt to restore a part of it through a methodological approach of inter- and trans-disciplinary experimental history, bringing together historians, art historians and musicians.

A sensitive map – recreating the sensory dynamics from the forest to the summit – will be drawn up based on a field experiment (May and June 2025) and sources from 1492 available in the Isère departmental archives. This map will then be translated into music, using works by Renaissance composers or creations in the same spirit, to generate an immersive, multi-sensory experience.

This work will enable us to understand the little-known dimensions of the 1492 ascent, based on the film of the experimental ascent and the preparatory work, used as a scientific mediation tool to complement the music. An ascent is planned with the musicians and choir members to test a “chantée” at the summit.

The project will be promoted in a variety of ways: public concerts with a narrator and visual projections; the creation of a musical ascent in virtual reality based on the existing 3D model; sound recordings for radio; educational workshops with students.

This work will highlight the mountain in its ancient cultural dimension, while at the same time taking an original scientific approach. It is being carried out in collaboration with a number of partners, including musicians Loris Barrucand and Simon-Pierre Bestion (Compagnie La Tempête).

Photos © Marjolaine Gal
Photo 1/2: Musicians Loris Barrucand and Simon-Pierre Bestion (La Tempête company) sing a song for a sound test in “La salle à manger”, June 23, 2025.
Photo 3: The group at the summit of Mont Aiguille, with guide Bernard Angelin, May 26, 2025