Jean Barriere was already renowned as a virtuoso cellist when he left his

post with the Royal Music Academy in Paris to study in Rome with the

famous Italian cellist Francesco Alborea. After three years in Italy

(1736-1739), he returned to Paris and lived primarily as a composer,

publishing works for the cello, the harpsichord, and the pardessus de

viole that reflected the influence of Italian music. Although his output

was limited, he was able to live on the income it provided, because

publishing and selling music at that time in Europe was a privilege 

reserved for only a few musicians, who did so by permission of the

ruling monarch.

Michel Blavet was one of the eighteenth-century masters of his

instrument, the flauto traverso (transverse flute). In the famous Concerts

spirituels in Paris, he appeared more frequently than any other performer 

in his generation. He was invited to join the court orchestras of some of

Europe’s most powerful monarchs, among them Frederick II of Prussia,

himself a connoisseur of the flute, but he remained loyal to his Paris

patron, the Count of Clermont. His extraordinary ability is chronicled in

the writings of Georg Philip Telemann, Joachim Quantz, and Voltaire,

among others.

One ofthe colleagues of Michel Blavet who performed with and wrote

pieces for him was the violinist Jean-Marie Leclair. Like Jean Barriere,

Leclair was drawn to Italian music and studied with several Italian

virtuosos, including Pietro Locatelli. The Dutch organist Jacob Wilhelm

Lustig (1706-1796), who heard both violinists, described Leclair’s

playing as “angelic” and Locatelli’s as “devilish,” noting that the

former’s style was marked by extreme rhythmic freedom and purity of

tone. Leclair published more than one hundred works in his lifetime and

left behind several dozen more, of which approximately half were

published posthumously and halfwere lost.

For the convenience ofconcertgoers,

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:30 p.m.

The use ofcameras or recording equipment during

the performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell

phones, pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off

The Sixty-first Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2429th Concert

MUSICA AD RHENUM

Jed Wentz, traverso Maria Moonen, traverso

Job ter Haar, violoncello Michael Borgstede, harpsichord

Sunday Evening, 13 October 2002

Seven O'clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free
PROGRAM

Francois Couperin

(1668-1733)

Allemande 

Courante I

Courante II

Sarabande

Gigue

Passacaille

Jean Baptiste-Antoine Forqueray La Rameau

(1671-1745)

La guignon -La Leon: Sarabande -Jupiter

Jean Barriere Sonata in C Minor

(1705-1747) for Violoncello and Basso Continuo

Largo -Allegro -Affettuoso -Giga

INTERMISSION

Michel Blavet Suite in D Major for Two Traversi

(1700-1768)

Prelude de M. Blavet

Air pour les fleurs de M. Rameau

Le rossignol-en-amour de M. Couperin

Les bergeries de M. Couperin

Jean Marie Leclair Deuxieme recreation de musique

(1697-1764)

Suite: La Fran9oise

from Les nations

Ouverture -Forlane -Sarabande -Chaconne

The early music ensemble Musica ad Rhenum was founded in The

Netherlands in 1992 by musicians inspired by the expressive power and

virtuosity inherent in baroque music. The performance style of the

group, based on extensive research into the sources ofthe period, reflects

its conviction that the music of the past must be interpreted in a lively

and creative way in order to represent the intentions of the composer.

Musica ad Rhenum has released fifteen CDs on the Vanguard and NM

Classics labels. The CD Alla rustica was awarded the Cini Prize for the

best Vivaldi recording of 1994. In 1995 the ensemble’s recording of

Locatelli’s Flute Sonatas, Opus 2, was awarded the Cini Prize for the

best recording ofinstrumental music. Musica ad Rhenum has appeared at

important festivals in Holland, Germany, Spain, France, Austria, Iceland,

and England, has toured South America, and has performed repeatedly at

the Concertgebouw, the Utrecht Early Music Festival, and the Handel

Festspiele in Halle, Germany.

Francis Couperin was the most important member of a prolific French

musical family and is often identified with the title le grand (the Great),

to distinguish him from an uncle of the same name who was a fine

composer in his own right. An organist at several important churches in

Paris, his career culminated in the post of court musician to the king of

France during the last twenty-one years of the reign of Louis XIV and

the first eight ofthe reign of Louis XV (1693-1733).

The relationship between Jean Baptiste-Antoine Forqueray (known as

le fils-the son) and his composer father, Antoine Forqueray (le pere) was

not cordial, as it was in the case of uncle and nephew Francis Couperin.

Jealous of his son’s early success as a violist and composer, Forqueray le

pere had Forqueray le fils put in jail on spurious charges in 1720. The

younger musician was quickly released, but the father was able to

frustrate the son’s ambitions as a court musician. He remained in his post 

as musicien ordinaire de la chambre du roy until 1742, when he was

seventy years old, effectively preventing his son from inheriting the

position until the latter was forty-two. That age was already past the

average life expectancy of men in the eighteenth century, but Forqueray 

le fils inherited his father’s longevity and was able to remain in the post 

until 1776, thus exceeding the family record by six years.