Music’s hieroglyph is so light and so furtive, it is so easy to lose or misinterpret it, that the most beautiful symphony would not have such a great effect if the infallible and sudden pleasure of the pure and simple sensation were not infinitely above an often equivocal expression. Painting shows the object itself, poetry describes it, music barely induces an idea. Music only has resources in the intervals and duration of sounds; and what analogy is there between this kind of sketch, and the spring, the darkness, the solitude, etc., and most objects? How is it then that out of the three forms of art that imitate nature, the one of which the expression is the most arbitrary and the least precise is the one that speaks most strongly to the soul? Could it be that, in portraying objects less precisely, it leaves more room for our imagination; or that needing jolts to be moved, music is more able than painting and poetry to cause in us this tumultuous effect?
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Access academia.eduFrench Harpsichord Music of the Enlightenment:
A Study of Jacques Duphly and the Aesthetic Context of his Life and Work
Abstract
The middle part of the eighteenth century saw seismic shifts in philosophical and political thought. Closely related to these are a range of new aesthetic ideas and the musical styles associated with them. Instrumental music, and more specifically harpsichord music of mid-18th-century France, has been surprisingly sparsely studied by musicologists and performers alike. While 17th- and early-18th-century harpsichord composers and their works have been treated extensively, there is a definite lack of understanding and knowledge of the harpsichord music of the period following the death of François Couperin in 1733 and the publication around 1728 of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s last book written for solo harpsichord, Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin. The succeeding decades were marked by a significant aesthetic shift, induced and observed by both French and foreign musicians, composers, and philosophers. I argue that these aesthetic changes are also evident in harpsichord music and can be observed in Jacques Duphly’s (1715–1789) four books of harpsichord music (1744, 1748, 1756, 1768), the focus of my research.
Little information has been readily available regarding Duphly’s life, and up until now, no serious contemporary study has focused on this subject. As part of this dissertation, I am providing a biographical account of Duphly, from his birth in Rouen to his life in Paris, and a chronological presentation of the contents of his books. Included in this presentation is a stylistic analysis of his works, a corpus that features the traditional French harpsichord style as well as elements that were both modern and foreign. Particular attention is given to explaining the aesthetic context of mid-18th-century Paris and its relation to expression in instrumental music, including the concepts of mesure and mouvement. A comprehensive review of French temperaments completes this presentation of the instrumental context of the period. Examples drawn from Duphly’s four books help illustrate how these temperaments as well as aesthetic and stylistic concepts can be understood and therefore used by musicians as part of a historically informed performance practice.
At the end of my studies at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, it seemed natural to begin a DMA (Doctorate in Musical Arts). Yet another degree, more time spent in school, but that didn’t matter to me. After six years in the Netherlands, I wanted to go back home for at least a few years and, more importantly, I felt I still had much to learn. I had not yet mastered the academic aspect of historical performance practice, and working towards a doctoral dissertation seemed the best way to achieve this. The program at the University of Toronto seemed appropriate: three solo recitals, a thesis about half the size of a traditional musicology Ph.D. dissertation, and access to one of the best music libraries. I also knew very well the teacher I wished to study with, and thanks to her, I found the perfect subject for my thesis.