The Voice of Virtue

This vividly-written and strikingly original study shows how song could act as a crucial tool for individual and collective moral repair at a time when France was riven by war and religious dispute. Through a meticulously researched exploration of Stoic currents in musical culture, Latour convincingly argues that moral song became a significant mode of informal philosophy as early modern French people sought to live well, to cultivate virtue, and to face adversity. * Jeanice Brooks, Professor of Music, University of Southampton *
The Voice of Virtue is a superb study of the French poetry and music that Melinda Latour aptly calls 'singing Stoicism.' With impeccable scholarship and infectious enthusiasm, she illuminates an unfamiliar and remarkable phase of Neostoic thought * A.A. Long, Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Hellenistic Philosophy and Stoic Studies *
Can music make us better people? In this fascinating and groundbreaking book, Melinda Latour demonstrates how the understudied genre of moral song in the late French Renaissance created a distinctive Stoic sonic world to repair religious conflict and civil strife. The Voice of Virtue makes important links between late Renaissance moral philosophy, devotional poetry, painting, and musical expression. With its wide range of musical illustrations and online links it enables us to appreciate for the first time the intimate beauty of a body of music that has so often been overlooked, and to understand its serious purpose. * Mark Greengrass, Centre Roland Mousnier, Sorbonne Université *