The French

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

composer

Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; ; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of ...

wrote three books of ' for the

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

. The first, ', was published in

1706 In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Monday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 26 ** War of Spanish Succession: The uprising by Bavarians aga ...

; the second, ', in 1724; and the third, ', in

1726 Events January–March * January 23 – (January 12 Old Style) The Conventicle Act (''Konventikelplakatet'') is adopted in Sweden, outlawing all non-Lutheran religious meetings outside of church services. * January 26 – T ...

or 1727. They were followed in

1741 Events January–March * January 13 ** Lanesborough, Massachusetts is created as a township. ** Conventicle Act of 1741 is introduced in Denmark-Norway. *February 13 – Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister of Great Britain ...

by ', in which the harpsichord can either be accompanied by

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

(or flute) and

viola da gamba The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (m ...

or played alone. An isolated piece, "", survives from 1747.

Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin (1706)

Suite in A minor, RCT 1

# Prélude #

Allemande An ''allemande'' (''allemanda'', ''almain(e)'', or ''alman(d)'', French: "German (dance)") is a Renaissance and Baroque dance, and one of the most common instrumental dance styles in Baroque music, with examples by Couperin, Purcell, Bach ...

I # Allemande II #

Courante The ''courante'', ''corrente'', ''coranto'' and ''corant'' are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. In a Baroque dance suite an Italian or French courante is typically pair ...

Gigue The gigue ( , ) or giga () is a lively baroque dance originating from the English jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th centuryBellingham, Jane"gigue."''The Oxford Companion to Music''. Ed. Alison Latham. Oxford Music Online. 6 July ...

Sarabande The sarabande (from ) is a dance in triple metre, or the music written for such a dance. History The Sarabande evolved from a Spanish dance with Arab influences, danced by a lively double line of couples with castanets. A dance called ''zara ...

s I – Sarabande II # Vénitienne #

Gavotte The gavotte (also gavot, gavote, or gavotta) is a French dance, taking its name from a folk dance of the Gavot, the people of the Gap, Hautes-Alpes, Pays de Gap region of Dauphiné in the southeast of France, where the dance originated, accordin ...

Menuet A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually written in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''. The term also describes the musical form that ...

c. 22 mins

Pièces de (1724)

Suite in E minor, RCT 2

#Allemande #Courante #Gigue en Rondeau I #Gigue en Rondeau II #Le Rappel des Oiseaux #

Rigaudon The rigaudon (, ), anglicized as rigadon or rigadoon, is a French baroque dance with a lively duple metre. The music is similar to that of a bourrée, but the rigaudon is rhythmically simpler with regular phrases (eight measure phrases are most ...

I – Rigaudon II et Double # Musette en rondeau. Tendrement # Tambourin #La Villageoise. Rondeau c. 22 mins

Suite in D major, RCT 3

#Les Tendres Plaintes. Rondeau #Les Niais de

Sologne Sologne (; ) is a natural region in Centre-Val de Loire, France, extending over portions of the departements of Loiret, Loir-et-Cher and Cher. Its area is about . To its north is the river Loire, to its south the river Cher, while the district ...

– Premier Double des Niais – Deuxième Double des Niais #Les Soupirs. Tendrement #La Joyeuse. Rondeau #La Follette. Rondeau #L'Entretien des Muses #Les Tourbillons. Rondeau #Les Cyclopes. Rondeau #Le Lardon. Menuet #La Boiteuse c. 30 mins

Menuet en Rondeau in C major, RCT 4

c. 1 minute

Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin (1726–1727)

Publication history

The exact date of publication, at Rameau's own expense, of the ''Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin'' remains a matter of some controversy. In his 1958 edition of the works, the editor Erwin Jacobi gave 1728 as the original publication date. Kenneth Gilbert, in his 1979 edition, followed suit. Others later argued that these works did not appear until 1729 or 1730. However, a recent reexamination of the publication date, based on the residence Rameau provided in the frontispiece (''Rue des deux boules aux Trois Rois''), suggests an earlier date, since Rameau's residence had changed by 1728. As a result of this and other evidence, the closest approximation for the original publication date stands between February 1726 and the summer of 1727. This dating is given further authentication by the comments of Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, who provided their publication date as 1726. There are almost 40 extant copies of the original 1726/27 edition. Two later editions followed both around 1760. The first (printed perhaps slightly before 1760) was simply a reimpression of the original engravings, although several plates were reengravings, suggesting that the original plates had undergone sufficient impression to wear them down to a state of illegibility. A second appeared in London under the title ''A Collection of Lessons for the harpsichord'' from the printer John Walsh which was based on the earlier Parisian edition.Siegbert Rampe, ed. ''Rameau: Pièces de Clavecin, Nouvelle édition intégrale'', v. 2 (Bärenreiter, 2004)

Suite in A minor, RCT 5

#Allemande #Courante #Sarabande #Les Trois Mains #Fanfarinette #La Triomphante #Gavotte et six doubles c. 33 mins

Suite in G major/G minor, RCT 6

#Les Tricotets. Rondeau #L'indifférente #Menuet I – Menuet II #La Poule #Les Triolets #Les Sauvages #L'Enharmonique. Gracieusement. #L'Égyptienne c. 23 mins

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pieces De Clavecin 1706 non-fiction books 1706 compositions 1724 non-fiction books 1724 compositions 1726 non-fiction books 1726 compositions 1727 non-fiction books 1727 compositions Compositions for harpsichord Compositions by Jean-Philippe Rameau Music books Self-published books