# Antoine Forqueray (1672-1745)



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

*Antoine Forqueray (1672-1745)
*
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Forqueray

Antoine Forqueray was a child prodigy at the court of the Sun King, a brilliant performer on the Viola da Gamba. 
Wiki compares him with his contemporary Marin Marais - 
*'At the time of Forqueray's appointment the most renowned viol player at court was Marin Marais, who was famous for his sweet and gentle musical style. Forqueray in contrast became renowned for his dramatic, striking and brash style. According to Hubert Le Blanc Marais played like an angel, and Forqueray like the devil.'*

His brother Michel and sons Jean-Baptiste & Nicolas-Gilles were also players and composers.

Antoine Forqueray's marriage was unhappy and he had a strained relationship with his son Jean-Baptiste too - but this son published some of his father's works (for Viola da Gamba) two years after his death, along with a harpschord version.

Unfortunately, much of Antoine Forqueray's work is lost.

As Wiki puts it - 
*Although Forqueray's obituary notice indicated that at the time of his death around three hundred pieces written by him still existed, the thirty-two pieces contained in his son's edition are all that survive today.*

There are some YouTube videos of both viol and harpsichord - and maybe some TC members can report on discs that they own, or concerts that they've been to. 
Or reflect and comment on what you think are Forqueray's special qualities, and how he compares with Marin Marais.

Thanks in advance - especially to :tiphat: @Mandryka, who alerted me to Forqueray's existence!


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

There are a couple of videos here of Forqueray's viol music.

1. A mixed collection, described as - Antoine & Jean-Baptiste Forqueray Suites for Viola da Gamba and B.c.














and

2.FORQUERAY - Pièces de Viole - SAVALL, COIN & KOOPMAN.wmv


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Harpsichord music by Forqueray on YouTube -

Antoine Forqueray Harpsichord Works, Gustav Leonhardt


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

Forqueray has a way of sneaking up on the unsuspecting. See my posts in the Froberger diary. I got them confused again not long ago. Duh.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

philoctetes said:


> Forqueray has a way of sneaking up on the unsuspecting. See my posts in the Froberger diary. I got them confused again not long ago. Duh.


Thanks for the warning. :tiphat:
He *is* a bit sneaky - I even spelled his name wrong, 'Fouqueray', on my Love of the Baroque thread.


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

Well, it seems he can be played many ways that work, from very straight (Deverite) to very free (Rannot), with Spence in the middle, and I like them all. I'm guessing that he didn't ornament his scores as much as his peers, but I don't know. Her seems "conservative" in a good way.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

I don't think Dévérité is trying to play it straight, on the contrary he wants to use the art of rhetoric, an art where musicians



> 'act out' their performance, with their own sensibility and emotion, making use of the persuasive arsenal of rhetoric. They may play on multiple nuances, employing agogic devices. In this fashion, they use spontaneous language to transmit expressions calculated to move their listeners and transcend their imaginations by forging subtle links between body and soul, emotion and virtuosity, heart and mind. The art of rhetoric consists in making the audience forget the framework within which any masterpiece has been conceived, giving the language a profound and direct signification, transporting and touching the listener thanks to the magic of the instant. It is an art of the ephemeral, in which music rouses the passions, as Aristotle described them: 'The passions are all those affections which cause men to change their opinion in regard to their judgments, and are accompanied by pleasure and pain; such are anger, pity, fear, and all similar emotions and their contraries.'


He prides himself on having found a way of playing Forqueray which creates a synthesis between refined sensibility and virtuosity.

I'm not sure that he can walk the walk, or indeed that he can really talk the talk.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Ingélou said:


> There are a couple of videos here of Forqueray's viol music.
> 
> 1. A mixed collection, described as - Antoine & Jean-Baptiste Forqueray Suites for Viola da Gamba and B.c.
> 
> ...


Maybe someone could sort things out for me. Is it the case that Antoine Forqueray only wrote viol music, and that Jean Baptiste Forqueray only wrote harpsichord transcriptions of Antoine's music? I find this really confusing. I'm pretty sure it can't be that simple, there's something called La Léon, for example which is attributed to AF possibly and is for keyboard


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Here's a couple of Antoine Forqueray recordings I like


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## ando (Apr 18, 2021)

*Antoine Forqueray Pieces De Viole* (2015, Aparté)
*Atsushi Sakaï* bass viol
*Marion Martineau* bass viol
*Christophe Rousset* harpsichord
Spotify Edition


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