Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Ce mémoire rend compte de la création du « documentaire acousmatique » Littorale, une œuvre musicale à visée informative, élaborée au moyen de prises de son in situ, d’extraits d’archives sonores et des témoignages de sept informateurs. En tissant des liens entre les deux disciplines médiatiques que sont la composition acousmatique et le documentaire, l’œuvre retrace l’histoire d’un impressionnant corpus de chants folkloriques récoltés en 1918 par l’ethnologue Marius Barbeau, dans les villages côtiers de Sainte-Anne-des-Monts et Tourelle, Haute-Gaspésie. La démarche de composition s’élabore ainsi en trois axes communicants : la mise en lumière de liens préexistants mais sous-exploités entre le documentaire et l’acousmatique, la recherche de terrain entourant le répertoire de chansons et sa résurgence dans la population actuelle de la Haute-Gaspésie, ainsi que la composition des trois mouvements musicaux constituant Littorale. À travers l’investigation d’enjeux identitaires qui découlent de la redécouverte du répertoire et la mise en lumière de certains flous historiques qui y sont reliés, cet alliage de deux genres médiatiques vise l’émergence d’une démarche de composition informative et socialement pertinente. / This thesis explains the creative process behind the “acousmatic documentary” Littorale, a musical work with informative perspectives, which primarily makes use of on-site sound recordings, sound archives and the testimonies of seven informers. Aiming to establish links between the two media practices consisting of documentary and acousmatic music, the work investigates the story behind an impressive repertory of folksongs collected by ethnologist Marius Barbeau in 1918, within a small population of fishermen in Sainte-Anne- des-Monts and Tourelle, two remote villages on the north shore of the Gaspésie peninsula. The composing process is thus divided into three distinct yet interrelated steps: shedding light onto existing but underused links between documentary practices and acousmatic music, investigating the repertory of folksongs and its contemporary rediscovery by the local people, which reveals underlying identity concerns, as well as the composing itself of the three musical movements of Littorale. Through investigating the aforementioned identity concerns and shedding new light on some historical misconceptions, this alloy of two media practices aims to approach acousmatic composition in a way that is both informative and socially relevant.

The Quebec City festivals of 1927 and 1928 represent a unique instance of close collaboration between prominent figures in Canadian musical and cultural history, John Murray Gibbon and Marius Barbeau. Based on Anglocentric concerns for a unique Canadian identity and corresponding school of composition, the festivals served as points of contact between many artists and performers, including Juliette Gauthier and Florence Glenn. An analysis of specific performances at the CPR festivals and over the course of Glenn and Gauthier’s respective careers showcase how racialized attitudes towards Indigenous populations, and the static conceptualization of French-Canadian folk culture were navigated to perform “Canadian folksong.”