Simon Simon (born in Vaux de Cernay either in 1720 or 1735, near

Rambouillet Rambouillet (, , ) is a subprefecture of the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region of France. It is located beyond the outskirts of Paris, southwest of its centre. In 2018, the commune had a population of 26,933. Rambouillet lies ...

; died after 1788 in

Dreux Dreux () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. Geography Dreux lies on the small river Blaise, a tributary of the Eure, about 35 km north of Chartres. Dreux station has rail connections to Argentan, Paris and Granvi ...

) was a French harpsichordist and composer.

Biography

Most of the accounts of his life derive from the recollections of

Jean-Benjamin de La Borde Jean-Benjamin François de la Borde (5 September 1734 – 22 July 1794) was a French composer, writer on music and '' fermier général'' (farm tax collector). Born into an aristocratic family, he studied violin under Antoine Dauvergne and composi ...

, in his french: Essai sur la musique ancienne et moderne, label=none.

Youth

At the age of seven, he was entrusted to his uncle Butet, organist at an abbey near

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Marquise de la Mézangère, a pupil 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 ...

. In 1747 she decided to take him in at her Paris french: hôtel, label=none to teach him the

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 ...

while the violinist Saint-Saire taught him music. He later went on to study composition with Antoine Dauvergne.

Career

Louis XV gave Simon Simon the role of harpsichord teacher to the heirs to the throne, and later also the Queen Marie Leszczyńska and the Countess of Artois. He married a Mademoiselle Tardif, pupil of Le Tourneur, who became his assistant. Throughout the reign of Louis XVI he remained at Versailles. He survived the French Revolution, and retired to Montfort-l'Amaury and then to

Works

Simon Simon published three books of

pieces, between 1776 and 1770, although some of these also include lines for the violin and cello. These are among the last books of harpsichord in France, alongside

Jacques Duphly Jacques Duphly (also Dufly, Du Phly; 12 January 1715 – 15 July 1789) was a French harpsichordist and composer. Early career as an organist He was born in Rouen, France, the son of Jacques-Agathe Duphly and Marie-Louise Boivin. As a boy, h ...

and Jean-Jacques Charpentier. The

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

also holds a manuscript for a treatise on accompaniment, entitled french: Théorie pratique D'Accompagnement. Par Mr Simon, label=none, likely for his own pupils.

Pièces de Clavecin, Op. 1

Simon's Opus 1 collection of accompanied keyboard music was published in 1761, and contains six suites. He describes his interest in uniting the French and Italian styles of keyboard music, which had been a common concern for many of the French harpsichordists of the 18th century. Its overall organization has been described as "appear ngto be an exercise in alternating contrasts between the French and Italian styles", and evokes many different genres of the mid-18th century late Baroque. In his first Book, Simon breaks with tradition by using multiple keys in a single

suite Suite may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Suite (music), a set of musical pieces considered as one composition ** Suite (Bach), a list of suites composed by J. S. Bach ** Suite (Cassadó), a mid-1920s composition by Gaspar Cassadó ** ''Suite' ...

, and incorporates

sonata Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...

-like violin and cello lines into some of the

movements. He explains his rationale in a preface: The individual suites comprise: * Suite No. 1, in E minor # ''La Mézangère'', Allemande # Sarabande # Légèrement et détaché * Suite No. 2, in A # ''La Saint Saire'', with violin # ''Airs tendres'', with violin # Allegro, with violin # ''La Magnanville'', Ière Gavotte, IIe Gavotte # ''La Tyrconell'', Pantomime (in D major) # ''La D’Eaubonne'' * Suite No. 3 # ''La Fontaine'' (G major) # ''La Moriceau'', Minuet & Four Variations (F major) # ''La de Nangis'', Musette (C minor) # ''La de Broglie'', Minuets (C major/minor) # ''La de Villemeur'', with violin (F major) * Suite No. 4 (with violin) ''La de Croisœuil'' # Introduction (F minor/major) # Andante (F minor) # Vif (F major) * Suite No. 5 # ''La La=Corée'' (E-flat minor) # ''La L’arrard'' (G minor) # ''La Le Daulceur'' (E-flat major) * Suite No. 6: ''Concerto que l’on peut Excecuter avec un Violon Seul (violon & violoncelle)'', ''La La Font'' # Presto (G major) # Gavottes (D major/minor) # Vif (G major) # ''La de Poyanne'' (D minor) # ''La de Guibeville''. Air gay (A major)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Simon French Classical-period composers Composers for harpsichord French harpsichordists French male classical composers 18th-century classical composers 18th-century French composers 18th-century French male musicians 19th-century French male musicians