Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre / I. The Baroque

Pièces de clavecin qui peuvent se joüer sur le viollon

1707 · EJG.05–⁠06 · Harpsichord

Two suites, in D minor and G major, seventeen pieces in all, dedicated to Louis XIV.

2 recordings · 6 min

In the Hall

Suite in G major · AllemandeIsabelle Nef, harpsichord
3:04
Isabelle Nef plays the Allemande from the G major suite of Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre’s Pièces de clavecin qui peuvent se joüer sur le viollon, published in 1707, on a 78 rpm disc from Éditions de l’Oiseau-⁠Lyre. The first strain has eight bars and the second nine; each is played twice.
Listening notes
1. Allemande in G major, first strain
  The allemande is in four beats to the bar and in two strains. The first strain has eight bars. It begins on an upbeat B and closes on a D major chord; bar 1 opens on a G major chord, followed by running left-hand semiquavers.
2. First strain repeated
  The first strain is played again from its upbeat B, at about 0:42, and closes on the same D major chord. The second ending, bar 9, leads into the second strain.
3. Éditions de l’Oiseau-⁠Lyre
  Louise Hanson-⁠Dyer founded Éditions de l’Oiseau-⁠Lyre in Paris as a music press. From December 1937 it also issued 78 rpm recordings, often to accompany printed scores. This disc, O. L. 75, is dated 1942 by the Bibliothèque nationale de France; an Oiseau-⁠Lyre discography places its release in 1938 or 1939.
4. Second strain, bars 10–⁠18
  The second strain, marked Reprise, has nine bars, 10 to 18, against eight in the first. It begins on a spread D major chord. The recording plays it twice, the repeat starting at about 2:07, and ends on a G major chord at about 2:53.
5. Titon du Tillet on her improvising, 1732
  In 1732 Titon du Tillet wrote that Jacquet de La Guerre had a marvellous talent for preluding and playing fantasias on the spot. He added that she sometimes kept a prelude and a fantasia going for half an hour.
Open in the Concert Hall
Suite in D minor · 2e GigueIsabelle Nef, harpsichord
2:34
The reverse of Isabelle Nef’s Oiseau-⁠Lyre disc has the second gigue, headed 2e Gigue, of the D minor suite in Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre’s Pièces de clavecin of 1707. It is in six-eight time. The first strain, of 25 bars, is played twice, and the second, of 38 bars, once. The Allemande on the other side comes from the G major suite of the same book.
Listening notes
1. 2e Gigue, first strain
  The 2e Gigue is in six-eight time and in two strains, each with a repeat sign. The first strain has 25 bars. It begins on an upbeat A, reaches an E major chord with G♯ in bars 23–⁠24 and closes on an A major chord.
2. First strain repeated
  The first strain is played again from its upbeat A, at about 0:43, and closes on the same A major chord. The second ending, bar 26, leads into the second strain.
3. Second strain, bars 27–⁠64
  The second strain, headed Reprise, has 38 bars against 25 in the first. The right hand begins F5–E5–D5–E5. The recording plays the strain once and omits its printed repeat; it ends on a D minor chord.
4. Final chord
  The gigue ends on a D minor chord at about 2:23, held for about four seconds. Surface noise fills the rest of the file.
Open in the Concert Hall

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