Jacquet De La Guerre/ Farr - Guerre, E.C : Ste HPD 1-6

Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre (c. 1664/65 - 1729): Les Pièces de Clavecin (1687) and Pièces de Clavecin qui peuvent se jouer sur le viollon (1707). Performed by Elizabeth Farr on a French-style harpsichord made by Keith Hill, Manchester, Michigan, in 2003. Recorded at the Orum Hall in Valparaiso, Indiana, USA from 3rd to 6th August 2004. The Composer: Although Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre was a celebrity at the court of Louis XIV, where she was already performing on the harpsichord as a 10 year old child prodigy, she is today known chiefly for being a woman composer, something generally unusual not only at this period. Her talent was above-average, and she produced not only the harpsichord music to be heard on these discs, but also an opera, cantatas and chamber music (examples here: Jacquet de la Guerre: Sonatas; Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre: Le Sommeil d'Ulisse). The Music: These two CDs contain all of Jacquet de la Guerre's published harpsichord works: four suites from 1687 and two from 1707. These must be considered as very rare repertoire as there is only one surviving copy each of the published editions, one of which was only discovered comparatively recently. The suites follow the typical French baroque pattern of stylized dances (Allemande - Courante - Sarabande - Gigue) with some additional numbers such as Chaconnes, Menuets, Rigaudons or Rondeaux. Most of the suites also have a prelude in unmeasured notes, imitating the preludes of the great French lutenists (Gaultier, Du Fault, Gallot). Elizabeth Farr points out in her notes that she has studied de la Guerre's practice of ornamentation and that in the repeats she has added ornaments of the kind that the composer would herself have played. The result is some extremely pretty music.