Louis de Caix d'Hervelois (; c. 1670 in France – 18 October 1759 in France) was a composer of chamber music.

Biography

Caix d'Hervelois wrote music almost exclusively for the

viol The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...

. Most of his other works exist as transcriptions from his viol music. A native of the north of France, almost nothing is known of his life. However, his changing addresses appear in his published music as well as in passing in contemporary discussions of the viol, and in brief notes in archives. The longest archival text (1697) documents a request by a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

Sainte-Chapelle The Sainte-Chapelle (; en, Holy Chapel) is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century, on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine in Paris, France. ...

, annoyed by the noise of the young ''chapelain ordinaire'' Caix learning to play the viol, that Caix practice in a room under the stairs. Louis de Caix d'Hervelois was a pupil of the great

Marin Marais Marin Marais (; 31 May 1656, in Paris – 15 August 1728, in Paris) was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colomb ...

. Caix's tuneful, graceful music is firmly in the French tradition of character pieces in dance suites. It is among the most idiomatic music written for the viol, its apparent simplicity deepening when interpreted in the light of the traditions of French viol performance practice. The French

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

Philippe Beaussant Philippe Beaussant (6 May 1930 – 8 May 2016) was a French musicologist and novelist, an expert on French baroque music, on which he has published widely. He was the founder of the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, of which he was the ar ...

wrote of Caix's music and anonymity: ::« ''L'on pourrait considérer Caix d'Hervelois comme une sort de pseudonyme sous lequel se cacherait un personnage réel, dont le nom est: la Viole, en France, au moment où elle est en passe de disparaître.'' » ::"One might look upon Caix d'Hervelois as a sort of

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

masking a person whose name was 'the Viol, of France, just at the moment when it was about to disappear.'" Facsimile editions of Caix's music are available from Éditions J.M. Fuzeau, the Société de Musicologie de Languedoc, and from Éditions August Zurfluh, the last of which also sponsors the Association Caix d'Hervelois.

References

*Beaussant, P. (1977). Liner notes in Caix d'Hervelois, Louis de, Pièces de viole, 1. livre. 3. livre, Selections ound recording France: Auvidis-Astrée.

External links

*
Association Caix d'Hervelois
1670s births 1759 deaths 18th-century French people 18th-century classical composers French Baroque composers French Baroque viol players French male classical composers 18th-century French composers 18th-century French male musicians 17th-century male musicians {{France-composer-stub