Jacques Duphly (also Dufly, Du Phly; 12 January 1715 – 15 July 1789) was a French harpsichordist and composer.

Early career as an organist

He was born in Rouen, France, the son of Jacques-Agathe Duphly and Marie-Louise Boivin. As a boy, he studied the harpsichord and organ, and was employed as organist at the cathedral in

Évreux Évreux () is a commune in and the capital of the department of Eure, in the French region of Normandy. Geography The city is on the Iton river. Climate History In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named ...

. He obtained his first position at the cathedral of St. Eloi at the age of nineteen. In 1740 he added a second position at the church of Notre Dame de la Ronde, which he maintained with the help of his sister Marie-Anne-Agathe, who substituted for him. His teachers were

François d'Agincourt François d'Agincourt (also d'Agincour, Dagincourt, Dagincour) (1684 – 30 April 1758) was a French harpsichordist, organist, and composer. He spent most of his life in Rouen, his native city, where he worked as organist of the Rouen Cathedra ...

and

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

. Later, Rousseau would ask him to contribute to his dictionary, for articles relating to the art of playing the harpsichord.

Career as harpsichordist

In 1742, after the death of his father, Duphly decided to move to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, where he abandoned playing the organ altogether and devoted himself to the harpsichord. He became famous as a performer and teacher. According to

Louis-Claude Daquin Louis-Claude Daquin (or D'Aquino, d'Aquin, d'Acquin; July 4, 1694 – June 15, 1772) was a French composer, writing in the Baroque and Galant styles. He was a virtuoso organist and harpsichordist. Life Louis-Claude Daquin was born in Paris to a f ...

: ''For some time he was organist at Rouen, but doubtless finding that he had a greater gift for the harpsichord, he abandoned his first instrument. One may suppose that he did well, for he passes in Paris for a very good harpsichordist. He has much lightness of touch and a certain softness, which, sustained by ornaments, marvelously render the character of his pieces.'' According to

Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (21 November 1718 – 22 May 1795) was a German music critic, music theorist and composer. He was friendly and active with many figures of the Enlightenment of the 18th century. Life Little is known of Marpurg's ear ...

he devoted himself to the harpsichord in order ''not to spoil his hand with the organ''. He published four volumes of harpsichord music in 1744, 1748, 1756 and 1768.Marshall, Robert L, Eighteenth Century Keyboard Music, Psychology Press, 2003 p. 146 The last book contained '' La Pothouin''. He was considered by Pascal Taskin, the harpsichord maker, to be one of the best teachers in Paris.

Later life

Some time after publishing his fourth volume of works, Duphly effectively disappeared from public life, for reasons which are not known. In 1788, an advertisement in the Journal Général de la France asked: ''We want to know what happened to M. du Phly, previously harpsichord master in Paris, where he was in 1767. If he does not exist any more, we would like to meet his heirs, to whom we have a communication to make.'' He died on 15 July 1789, the day after the

storming of the Bastille The Storming of the Bastille (french: Prise de la Bastille ) occurred in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, when revolutionary insurgents stormed and seized control of the medieval armoury, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille. At ...

, in an apartment in the Hôtel de Juigné, lonely, forgotten, with his library - and ''without a harpsichord''. A tip of the mystery veil could be lifted by this fact: in 1785, Antoine de Sartine, ex-chief of Police, and ex-minister of the Navy, lived at the same address. Duphly left his possessions to his servant, who was with him for 30 years. Only fifty-two works by Duphly are known, most of which were published during his lifetime in the four volumes of harpsichord music mentioned above. The titles of the work refer to well-known protectors of art (e.g. '' La Victoire'', '' la de Sartine'') or other composers (e.g. '' La Forqueray''). His late music contains elements typical of the early classical movement - e.g. the use of

Alberti bass Alberti bass is a particular kind of accompaniment figure in music, often used in the Classical era, and sometimes the Romantic era. It was named after Domenico Alberti (1710–1740/46), who used it extensively, although he was not the f ...

, quite dissimilar to Jean-Philippe Rameau or François Couperin.

Sources

References

*David Fuller. "Jacques Duphly", '' Grove Music Online'', ed. L. Macy (accessed August 4, 2005)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access). * Sleeve notes of

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

"Le Clavecin Français" par Pauline Aubert, Vogue MC 20123 * Françoise Petit: ‘Sur l’œuvre de Jacques Duphly’, Courrier musical de France, 23 (1968), pp. 188–90 * On the address of M. de Sartine: A. de Maurepas et A. Boulant "Les ministres et les ministères du siècle des Lumières", page 249

External links