For those who don't read French : several music teachers are to be dismissed, including Sylvain Dieudonné, teacher for Gregorian chant and medieval music. The chorists have gone on a strike, which lead to a concert cancelled, to protest.

Fire at Notre-Dame de Paris: deficit, dismissals and strike at the Maîtrise

19 December 2019 by Charles Arden (translation by RC)

The fire at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, which took place on April 15-16, 2019, is also leading to a catastrophic and conflictual situation for the Maîtrise (music school) of that institution:

Tragedies too often have a tendency to rub salt on the wounds they have opened. If the catastrophic fire of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris brought with it a world-wide wave of emotion and solidarity, polemics have not been far behind (notably on the question of architectural reconstruction, but not only about that). Many citizens have felt deprived of their heritage, and many faithful have lost their temple. But it is equally the case for many music-lovers and for musicians working in that great house of stone, of wood, and of art history.

Despite this, solidarity has also been organized for them: the Maîtrise Notre-Dame de Paris has been received since then, and regularly, in various sacred and secular places (and we have been able to report on several concerts these last months). Unfortunately, these places are far from having the same seating capacity and the same audience of the faithful: receipts have felt the effects heavily for the budget of the Maîtrise, which has acknowledged a catastrophic situation (the structure even is at risk of being placed under the supervision of the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris). Moreover, that phalanx cannot count on resources provided by the Cathedral (besides the weekly concerts at Notre-Dame, which have additionally become bimonthly, the choir of the school of sacred music performs at 1000 services every year in the largest Cathedral in Paris).

The consequences are terrible and the unfolding of events tragic. The budget director confirms the loss of a quarter of the school's revenue (500,000 euros out of two million euros), leading to the summoning of an extraordinary assembly, which, on Friday, 13 December, has enacted five dismissals for economic reasons: Susanna Poddighe, teacher of Italian, Jean-François Laplénie. teacher of German, Sophie Decaudaveine, teacher of English, Véronique Roire, teacher of theater, as well as the chairman of the department of Gregorian chant and medieval music, Sylvain Dieudonné. The Maîtrise explains nonetheless that this will not at all imply a stop to these activities.

It also explains that it took this decision unwillingly and in dialogue with the persons released (who will receive compensation).

This decision has provoked a strike movement amid the choir, which is now "boycotting" services and decided to cancel the concert at Saint-Sulpice the day before yesterday (Tuesday, 17 December). Dialogue continues but uncertainty hangs over the Christmas concert scheduled for the same place on Tuesday evening, 24 December, a concert that moreover represents the greatest financial resource of the institution.

The situation has become so much more deplorable and intolerable for the parties involved, and no doubt beyond them, that the pledges of gifts to save the building are approaching a billion euros, in a worldwide expression of solidarity to save the stones, but not necessarily the intangible musical patrimony (worse yet, appeals for gifts to the music school have been fruitless and have led to a lack of public understanding about the usefulness of giving to the Cathedral again). In any case, as the Maîtrise made clear in a statement:

"While the main part of the sums collected by the Cathedral Fund of Paris, placed under the direction of the Notre Dame Foundation, are destined for securing the construction in 2019 and 2020 and then for restoring the building from 2021 on, a partial allocation is expected according to the agreements reached with various patrons. In addition, a fund dedicated to sacred music at Notre-Dame de Paris has been opened. Everyone who wishes can direct his gift to it."

Singers as well as directors of the Maîtrise de Notre-Dame are pleading that their choir and music be inscribed, in an emergency procedure, in the national inventory of intangible cultural patrimony.
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