Les sentiments: French Baroque Masterworks

Description

Les sentiments
This recording showcases a selection of exemplary pieces from the French Baroque solo instrument repertoire, which I chose among a wide variety of lute music and also by transcribing from the harpsichord.
The harpsichord has an important Baroque repertoire that culminates with Francois Couperin and Rameau. But, as is well known, it does not allow giving shade to the sounds, or dosing them, basically it cannot play softly, or loudly. One of the most important musical theorists of the seventeenth century, Mersenne, writes in his treatise Harmonie Universelle: “The resonant sound of the spinet [little harpsichord], it is the most excellent imaginable, but the player has no control over this sound, which is quite open and cannot be varied and enriched by ornaments, as can that of the lute”. So, the reason for transcribing music for harpsichord is a search for greater expressiveness through shaping the sound.
“Les Sentiments” is the title of one of the pieces by Francois Couperin present in the program, and I thought of it as the emblem of the entire CD. In fact, this repertoire displays the wide palette of the ‘’motions of the soul”, as they were called in Italy during the Renaissance – later referred to as “affects” in the seventeenth century. Couperin seems to have been among the first musicians to define them as “sentiments”. It is no coincidence that in his first book for harpsichord he declared: “I confess that I am more attracted by what moves me, rather than by what amazes me”.
The pieces I’m showing here cover a period which goes from the beginning of the seventeenth century, to the early eighteenth century, and they were all composed by musicians who had worked in the Parisian environment, at least for a part of their artistic life.
Many of them were lutenists who composed mainly, or exclusively for their own instrument. They were often families of musicians, for example the numerous Gaultiers: Ennémond was called “the old” and was probably the founder of the family. In the collections of lute tablatures that have come down to us, his pieces are often alternated, even in the same suite, with those of his younger cousin Denis, also known as Gaultier of Paris. I have chosen two short suites by Gaultier: the order of the pieces in the suites is not defined by the author, like those of the following period: it includes a large number of pieces which are all in the same key (many of which are “courantes”), and the nowadays interpreter creates their own selection.
One of these suites is in D minor, it starts with an unmeasured prelude by Denis. This means that it deliberately does not contain rhythmic indications or even bar markings. The interpreter himself must shape the piece. Next comes the Tombeau de Mezangeau: the musical form of the “tombeau” was introduced by Ennémond, and it quickly gained popularity among lutenists and harpsichordists. The tombeau is a tribute to a deceased musician, who often was the composer’s teacher. Mezangeau is another lutenist-composer who came shortly before Ennemond, and may have played a role in his musical education. The tombeaux do not necessarily have a slow and gloomy pace: sometimes, they include contrasting moments and feelings. In those years it was common to end the pieces written in a minor key, with a major chord, but Ennemond usually ended them leaving them in the minor. The Tombeau itself, however, ends with an unexpected major, and a sudden high note, which seem to allude to a flash of resurrection. Next, are a light courante and a lively canarie.
The biographies of French lutenists from this period are rather lacking, specifically, more information is needed on that of the only known female composer for the lute: Mademoiselle Boquet. Her name was Anne or Marguerite, as two Boquet sisters with these names held a literary-musical salon in Paris in the 1650s together with Madeleine de Scudéry, and it is documented that they played the lute well. Various pieces for lute signed by Boquet are contained in French manuscripts of those years. Perhaps the manuscripts only report the last name, because it was not clear which one, between the two of them, had composed each piece. The musicologist Monique Rollin has done an in-depth biographical and musical work, and she confers the authorship of the pieces to the Boquet sister who co-led the artistic salon of Parisian “precieuses”. In particular, the manuscript Vm7 6214 preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris mainly contains pieces that carry this last name, and they date to the mid-seventeenth century ca. From it, I have chosen three pieces in F minor, including a “serenade”. At that time, the musical term “serenade”, in the sense of lover’s song, was not common yet. Considering our current meaning of musical terms, nowadays we would probably define the piece a “nocturne”, given the rather low register, and the dark color. Boquet’s pieces seem to me to show an introverted and sensitive personality.
It is known to us, that Germain Pinel was King Louis XIV’s lute teacher as a kid, and he was later a very loved and well-paid court musician. I chose his “Tombeau sur la mort du Roy d’Angleterre”, because I think expressing the feeling of pain perfectly, even using simple, almost bare means.
Francois Couperin also worked at the service of the Sun King, but as a harpsichordist. Between 1713 and 1730 he published four books for harpsichord that make up a fundamental stage for the instrument. “Les barricades misterieuses”, with its hypnotic progression, is one of his best-known pieces. His writing, full of similar, and endlessly linked arpeggios, anticipates the minimalist wave of the second half of the twentieth century. The title is enigmatic, perhaps alluding to women’s eyelashes, which, much like barricades, try to hide feelings. The piece “Les sentiments” includes so many nuances, that we can truly speak of feelings in the plural form.
All 17th-century French music for solo instruments is full of diverse and light embellishments, that enrich it. That means that even strong, passionate or dramatic feelings are always expressed with a certain softness, never brazenly or forcefully. It is no coincidence that this repertoire does not only have roots in the king’s court, but also in the artistic gatherings of the ‘Précieuses’, intellectual women, who include Madame d’Aulnoy, and writer Madeleine de Scudéry. The artistic movement that they were able to create was mocked by Molière in the comedy Les Précieuses ridicules. Actually, these artistic salons gave rise to a literary production which enriched the language and psychological studies, and which inspired the later French fairytale literature. Several lutenists attended these cultural gatherings.
Gallot was a composer who wrote in a more unpredictable style, although he still adopted the same forms and structures as other French composers of his time. His musical writing is denser than that of other lutenists and includes many dissonances. The sarabande La belle chromatique is dark, while the chaconne Le petit serail alternates painful moments with flashes of light.
Among the authors displayed here, Rameau is probably the most known. Although today he is often compared to his great contemporaries Bach, Handel and Scarlatti, his musical life was neither precocious, nor linear, nor easy: it followed the ups and downs of both great successes, and intense controversies.
Les Sauvages has “exotic” references: it is inspired by the dance of Native American people; Rameau later included it again in the opéra-ballet Les Indes galantes. It expresses rhythm in a physical sense, and determination, but a refined one! The Tambourin is energetic and involves an ancestral call, expressed by the insistence of an relentless bordone.
“Les tendres plaintes”, in the form of a rondo, has a remarkable singability, and so much sweetness, that we do not know whether we should trust the cries, or the singing more. The Canario is generally a lively dance: so are those of the Gaultiers; in Couperin’s, however, I tried to highlight the signs of delicate playfulness.
Robert de Visée, personal musician of the Sun King, who was in charge of playing for him in the evening hours, also wrote a few tombeaux, including one dedicated to lutenist Charles Mouton, who might have been his teacher. The piece is dramatic, at times it seems to express fury against death, which then dissolves in a state of quiet towards the end.
We do not know whether by the title La Montsermeil, de Visée was referring to the memory of the homonymous village near Paris, or to a person, but either way, it expresses his assertive character.
Charles Mouton, in his vast lute production, also composed this long Chaconne. It’s a series of variations on a basso ostinato. Pieces which are in the form of variations tend to show off the technique, rather than the feelings. So, we may not expect it to be one of the most “emotional” pieces of the program, but the variations are so diverse in character, that they deliver ever-changing moods.
Couperin expressed himself masterfully through the suspended and enigmatic tones of the “Barricades” which open the anthology, but he did just as equally well with the pungent and direct cheerfulness of the “Bourbonnaise”, which I selected for ending this recording on a lighter note.
Francesca Torelli © 2025