François d'Agincourt (also d'Agincour, Dagincourt, Dagincour) (1684 – 30 April 1758) was a French

harpsichordist A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord. Harpsichordists may play as soloists, as accompanists, as chamber musicians, or as members of an orchestra, or some combination of these roles. Solo harpsichordists may play unaccompanied son ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational h ...

, and composer. He spent most of his life in Rouen, his native city, where he worked as organist of the

Rouen Cathedral Rouen Cathedral (french: Cathédrale primatiale Notre-Dame de l'Assomption de Rouen) is a Roman Catholic church in Rouen, Normandy, France. It is the see of the Archbishop of Rouen, Primate of Normandy. It is famous for its three towers, each i ...

and of three smaller churches. Highly regarded during his lifetime, d'Agincourt was one of the organists of the royal chapel. The single surviving book of harpsichord music by him contains masterful pieces inspired by François Couperin; also extant are some 40 organ works that survive in manuscript copies.

Biography

D'Agincourt was born in Rouen and received his early musical training there. He soon left for Paris where he probably studied under

Nicolas Lebègue Nicolas-Antoine Lebègue (also ''Le Bègue''; c. 16316 July 1702) was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was born in Laon and in the 1650s settled in Paris, quickly establishing himself as one of the best organists of the ...

. Between 1701 and 1706 he worked as organist of Sainte-Madeleine-en-la-Cité in Paris, and in 1706 he went back to Rouen and became organist of the

, succeeding

Jacques Boyvin Jacques Boyvin (c. 1649 – 30 June 1706) was a French Baroque composer and organist. He was probably born in Paris, and studied there. One of his first jobs was that of organist of the Parisian church ''des Quinze-Vingts'', and in 1674 he was app ...

. He kept the post until his death some 52 years later. Later he also took jobs at St. Herbland, the

Abbey of Saint-Ouen Saint-Ouen Abbey, (french: Abbaye Saint-Ouen de Rouen) is a large Gothic Catholic church and former Benedictine monastic church in Rouen. It is named for Audoin (french: Ouen, ), 7th-century bishop of Rouen in modern Normandy, France. The church' ...

(he would hold both of these until his death as well), and at St. Jean, all in Rouen. By 1714 he was sufficiently well-known and respected to be appointed one of the four organists of the royal chapel. Jacques Duphly studied with d'Agincourt about 1730–31, but his surviving works do not show any considerable influence of his teacher's style. D'Agincourt only published a single collection of his music, ''1er livre de clavecin'' (Paris, 1733). It contains 43 pieces for harpsichord, clearly influenced by François Couperin: the pieces are organized into ''ordres'', make good use of ornamentation, and many are character pieces: genre scenes, portraits (sometimes double portraits), etc. D'Agincourt's organ music, which survives in a manuscript copy made by the renegade French priest and scientist Alexandre Guy Pingré. The manuscript, now conserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, consists of 46 pieces for liturgical use. They are more progressive than Couperin's organ works, with frequent use of elements of the ''

style galant In music, galant refers to the style which was fashionable from the 1720s to the 1770s. This movement featured a return to simplicity and immediacy of appeal after the complexity of the late Baroque era. This meant simpler, more song-like melodie ...

''. The pieces are organized according to mode, as is usual in French organ music, but for unknown reasons d'Agincourt omits the third mode altogether. Suites in the first three modes (i.e., 1, 2, and 4) are less developed than the remaining ones. Apart from keyboard pieces, only three songs for soloist and basso continuo are known, published in the anthology ''Recueil d'airs sérieux et à boire'' in 1713 and 1716. A portrait of one Barthélemy-Jean-Claude Pupil is frequently misidentified as a portrait of d'Agincourt.

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"Suite du 2e ton" (organ)
''plein jeu''''récit de nasard''''duo''''concert de flûtes''''trio''''grand jeu''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agincourt, Francois d 1684 births 1758 deaths Musicians from Rouen French classical organists French male organists Cathedral organists French male classical composers French Baroque composers Composers for harpsichord French harpsichordists 18th-century classical composers 18th-century French composers 18th-century French male musicians 17th-century male musicians Male classical organists

Biography

See also

References

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Audio files