__NOTOC__ Jean-Baptiste Forqueray (3 April 1699 – 28 June 1782), the son of

Antoine Forqueray Antoine Forqueray (September 1672 – 28 June 1745) was a French composer and virtuoso of the viola da gamba. Forqueray, born in Paris, was the first in a line of composers which included his sons Jean-Baptiste (1699–1782) and Nicolas Gilles (17 ...

, was a player of the viol and a

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. Forqueray was born in Paris. He is most famous today for his 1747 publication of twenty-nine pieces for viol and continuo which he attributed to his father (except for three, for which he himself took credit). In the ''avertissement'' he states that he was responsible for the bass line (thus the figures as well) and the viol fingerings. Stylistically, they are very much influenced by Italian music and belong to the generation of Jean-Marie Leclair (1697–1764) and

Jean-Pierre Guignon Jean-Pierre Guignon, ''né'' Giovanni Pietro Ghignone (10 February 1702 – 30 January 1774) was an 18th-century Franco-Italian composer and violinist. Life Born in Turin, Guignon was the son of a merchant from this city and a disciple of Giov ...

(1702–1774). Modern violists regard these '' Pieces de viole'' as the most virtuosic music for the instrument. Paolo Pandolfo and Lorenz Duftschmid have both recorded the complete publication. Forqueray published the same pieces for

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

, possibly in arrangements made by his wife Marie-Rose, in 1749 (ed. Colin Tilney, Paris, 1970) but remarkably did not transpose any of the music, so the melodies lie relatively low in the range of the harpsichord. Forqueray's pupils included Louis XV's daughter Princesse Henriette-Anne and the future King Frederick William II of Prussia. Forqueray was married twice: to Jeanne Nolson on 29 July 1732 and, after her death, to the harpsichordist Marie-Rose Dubois on 13 March 1741. He died in Paris.

Selected recordings

''Pièces de clavecin,'' Michael Borgstede, clavecin. 2 CD Brilliant Classics 2008.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forqueray, Jean-Baptise French male classical composers French Baroque viol players 18th-century French male classical violinists French Baroque composers Musicians from Paris 1699 births 1782 deaths 18th-century classical composers 18th-century French composers 17th-century male musicians

Selected recordings

References

Further reading

External links