Frances Conover Fitch - Protégée of the Sun King: Music by Jacquet de la Guerre (2005)

Elisabeth Claude Jacquet de la Guerre was a harpsichord prodigy brought to the court of Louis XVI, France's Sun King, at the age of 12. Her music disappeared after her death in 1732, erased from historical memory like the works of other female composers in the way that Communist governments used to retouch photos in order to eliminate individuals deemed non-approved. Like Bach, she was a talented improviser at the keyboard. Her works, in various genres, were published with the king's approval, but they have only recently been rediscovered. Recordings of her music are still rare, and this two-disc set may be the first real survey of her work as a whole. It covers music from her two books of Pièces de clavecin, separated from each other by two decades, as well as ballet music, songs, a violin sonata, sacred and secular cantatas, assorted songs, and more. There are also several spoken tracks with texts praising the talents of Jacquet de la Guerre. As can be seen from this list of genres, Jacquet de la Guerre was in the forefront of experimentation with new Italian genres such as the cantata and sonata. But on the evidence here it is her harpsichord music that is the real revelation. The second book of harpsichord music, from 1707, shows the influence of François Couperin, but even in the youthful first book there is a strikingly assured handling of harmony and texture that makes one wonder how her music could have remained abandoned for so long. Jacquet de la Guerre's miniature dance suite movements are packed with dense chromatic modulations that rival Rameau's, and with individualistic textures that bear comparison with those of François Couperin. It may be that the harpsichord works outshine the rest of the music here because the performances by harpsichordist Frances Conover Fitch are superior to those of the other Boston-area musicians she has assembled; the two cantatas on disc two in particular are tough going. A single disc might have served the composer's interests better, but if this disc inspires new performances from the likes of Pierre Hantaï and Emma Kirkby, it will have done its job. © James Manheim