La Sylvie

Devotees of the historical miniseries Versailles will know that a large part of Louis XIV’s decision to aggrandize the royal hunting lodge outside Paris into a magnificent palace and seat of court involved political infighting among the nobility. But beyond palace intrigue, which makes for fascinating television, the actual reality also meant that Versailles became a world unto itself, orbiting around the “Sun King” at its center. Fortunately Louis had good taste and a penchant for music, thus surrounding himself with many of the finest composers and musicians of the age, including François Couperin, Charles Dieupart, Robert de Visée, Marin Marais, Louis-Nicholas Clérambault and Antoine Forqueray.
Clérambault (1676-1749) was an important figure in the development of French cantatas, but he also created fabulous solo keyboard works in the best manner of the elder Louis Couperin. These include the genre of unmeasured prelude, in which an improvisatory feel reigns supreme. Each performance, while staying within the harmonies specified by the composer, enjoys a certain rhythmic freedom. Forqueray (1671-1745) also wrote numerous keyboard works. But like his contemporary Marais, Forqueray was actually a virtuoso on the viola da gamba, a precursor to the modern cello. He became fully employed at Versailles while still a teenager and held the position until his death over fifty years later. Only about ten percent of Forqueray’s music survives today, including several suites of dance music. Like “Sylvia” and “Jupiter” heard this evening, much of his music started out for gamba or was conceived with the gamba’s traits foremost in mind (rich cantabile tone, ability to mimic human speech). After Forqueray’s death, his son made solo keyboard versions of many of these works, published them, and bequeathed the last remaining legacy of his brilliant father to the modern world.

(c) Jason Stell