General Biography on Forqueray

The third major name in French music is Couperin, a dynasty of composers and performers active from 1601 until 1750. The scion of the family, François Couperin (1668-1733), created an enormous treasury of harpsichord works, as well as arguably the most important treatise on performance written during the Baroque era. He led a new generation of composers at Versailles that included Charles Dieupart (1667-1740), lutenist Robert de Visée (1655-1732), Antoine Forqueray (1671-1745), and Marin Marais (1656-1728), who studied opera composition with Lully. Marais and Forqueray were widely considered the leading gambists of the day, and both created fantastic suites for their chosen instrument. Marais was adored for his poetic, refined, and sensitive style, whereas Forqueray drew adherents with a sound that was strident and dramatic.
Like Couperin, Forqueray himself helped to ground a family tradition at Versailles. Antoine was followed by his brother and two of his sons. He had appeared in concert as a gambist while still a child, attracting the attention of the monarch. This led to free musical training at Versailles and, just a few years later, an appointment at court that Forqueray would hold until his death over 50 years later. As mentioned, his compositional style pushed the boundaries of polite salon music. And to achieve the sound effects he desired often called for novel and difficult technical feats for the keyboardist. Forqueray’s reputation for challenging music reached beyond Versailles, but it was his colleagues at court—notably Rameau and Couperin—who each penned works titled called La Forqueray in tribute to his unique style. As today’s program shows, Forqueray genially returned the favor with titled works in deference to both men.

(c) Jason Stell