Nicolas Siret (3 March 1663 – 22 June 1754) was a French

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

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 ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

and

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 ...

ist. He was born and died in

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...

, France, where he worked as organist in the Church of Saint Jean and the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Both his grandfather and his father were organists in Troyes. Siret was a friend and admirer of

François Couperin François Couperin (; 10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as ''Couperin le Grand'' ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented ...

, and his first collection of harpsichord pieces, published approximately in 1709, was dedicated to Couperin. The suites of this collection all begin with a

French overture The French overture is a musical form widely used in the Baroque period. Its basic formal division is into two parts, which are usually enclosed by double bars and repeat signs. They are complementary in style (slow in dotted rhythms and fast in f ...

, following the tradition established by

Jean-Baptiste Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he ...

. Siret's second volume of harpsichord pieces (''Second livre de pièces de clavecin'', published in 1719) was, along with Couperin's ''

L'art de toucher le clavecin ''L'art de toucher le clavecin'' (English: ''The Art of Playing the Harpsichord'') is a didactic treatise by the French composer François Couperin François Couperin (; 10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque composer, org ...

'', one of the last publications to include

unmeasured prelude Unmeasured or non-measured prelude is a prelude in which the duration of each note is left to the performer. Typically the term is used for 17th century harpsichord compositions that are written without rhythm or metre indications, although vario ...

s. Siret also wrote some "pièces de caractère" (pieces of descriptive character, not dances), stylistically reminiscent of Couperin, and a single organ work by him survives, ''

Fugue In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the c ...

primi toni''.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Siret, Nicolas French classical composers French male classical composers French Baroque composers French classical organists French male organists French harpsichordists People from Troyes 1663 births 1754 deaths 18th-century keyboardists 18th-century classical composers 18th-century French composers 18th-century French male musicians 17th-century male musicians Male classical organists

See also

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