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

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

ist and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Early career as an organist

He was born in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

, France, the son of Jacques-Agathe Duphly and Marie-Louise Boivin. As a boy, he studied the harpsichord and

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

, 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. History Antiquity In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century AD, was named '' Mediolanum Aulercorum'', "the central town ...

. 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 Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...

. 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, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he abandoned playing the organ altogether and devoted himself to the

. He became famous as a performer and teacher. According to Louis-Claude Daquin: ''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 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 Pascal-Joseph Taskin (27 July 1723 – 9 February 1793) was a Holy Roman Empire-born French harpsichord and piano maker. Biography Pascal Taskin, born in Theux near Liège, worked in Paris for most of his life. Upon his arrival in Paris, he ap ...

, 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 ( ), which occurred in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, was an act of political violence by revolutionary insurgents who attempted to storm and seize control of the medieval armoury, fortress, and political prison k ...

, in an apartment in the Hôtel de Juigné, without a harpsichord. 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, quite dissimilar to

Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; ; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of ...

François Couperin François Couperin (; 10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque music, Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as ''Couperin le Grand'' ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musi ...

Sources

References

*David Fuller. "Jacques Duphly", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'', 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 a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, ...

"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