La De Vatre by Jacques Duphly played on a two-manual harpsichord

Описание: Jacques Duphly (1715-1789) spent his early years in Rouen, where he studied keyboard. His abilities allowed him to move quickly through several positions as a church organist, culminating with service at the Cathedral. In 1742, still in his twenties, he put that life aside and moved to Paris, intending to devote himself to the harpsichord. There, he gained a fine reputation and seems to have sustained himself on the income from lessons for the rest of his life - something that would have been possible in very few other environments. No records of Duphly occupying a church post in Paris have been found. It has been suggested that he shied away from the organ to keep his harpsichord technique at peak. Throughout his time in Paris, mentions of him are few but appear regularly. His four books of Pièces de Clavecin were well received. His second book was reprinted in France at least once and was independently printed by Walsh in England. Gracious comments have been preserved from such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Pascal Taskin. A set of Rondeaux in C-major from his first book were included in Marpurg's Raccolta (Berlin, 1757).

Duphly's four books quite nicely display the transition from the musical styles typical of Louis XIV to those associated with Louis XVI. His music blends the earlier seriousness of purpose and constrained expression with a somewhat expansive, breezy modernism. The significance of the title has been lost. The supposition that it names one of Duphly's students or benefactors is probably relatively safe. That said, this piece, from his second book (1748) is a thoroughly up-to-date display piece of the first water, suggesting both Rameau and Scarlatti as influences. It does its anonymous namesake proud.

Duphly leads his contemporaries in possessing an unerring ability to make the Parisian harpsichord of his time sound to its best effect in any register or tempo. Besides being idiomatic to the harpsichord, the music itself is well crafted, rewarding both for hands and ears. Even if the musical thought he presents is not always of the most profound sort, it never descends to the workaday, either, and, even at its technically least restrained, the music never strays from le bon goût.

This instrument, a Hubbard French Double kit, was one of two that had returned to the shop for musical finishing within a few months. Both had been assembled well and each possessed a fine voice that hewed quite close to type – perfect for demonstrating the virtues of the design in recordings. They were a pair that kept me playing longer than my work schedule should have allowed. This recording was made in the Hubbard Shop in Saxonville in September, 2004.

The instrument is tuned in a 1/5th-comma temperament ordinaire. The piece is played throughout using the plein jeu (2x8', 1x4').