Nicolas Lebègue
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Nicolas-Antoine Lebègue (also ''Le Bègue''; c. 16316 July 1702) was a French
Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
composer, organist and
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. He was born in
Laon Laon () is a city in the Aisne Departments of France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Early history The Ancient Diocese of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held s ...
and in the 1650s settled in Paris, quickly establishing himself as one of the best organists of the country. He lived and worked in Paris until his death, and frequently made trips to other cities to consult on organ building and maintenance matters. Lebègue's reputation today rests on his keyboard music. He made particularly important contributions to the development of the French organ school by devising pieces with independent pedal parts and developing the ''Tierce en taille'' genre. His oeuvre also includes the earliest published unmeasured preludes, as well as some of the earliest known noëls (Christmas songs).


Life

Lebègue was born in
Laon Laon () is a city in the Aisne Departments of France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Early history The Ancient Diocese of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held s ...
, and nothing certain is known about his early years or training. It may be possible that his uncle (also named Nicolas Lebègue), a ''maître joueur d'instrument'', played some role in Lebègue's music education. Equally little is known about the circumstances of Lebègue's move to Paris: the first reference to Lebègue is found in a 1661 document, in which the composer is already described as "the famous Parisian organist", so by then he must have lived and worked in the city long enough to secure a solid reputation. Although this must mean he held at least one organist's position in Paris, where he worked is unknown. The only post he is known to have held is at the church of Saint-Merri, where he worked since from 18 December 1664 until his death. Lebègue started publishing his music in 1676, and in 1678 was selected to become one of the ''organistes du Roi'' ("organist to the King"), a prestigious position he shared with Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers, Jacques-Denis Thomelin, and Jean-Baptiste Buterne.Higginbottom, Grove. The surviving copies of Lebègue's music are very numerous, indicating he was popular. He was also knownas an expert on organ building: in this capacity, Lebègue travelled as far as
Bourges Bourges ( ; ; ''Borges'' in Berrichon) is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre (Cher), Yèvre. It is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Cher (department), Cher, and also was the capital city of the former provin ...
, Blois,
Chartres Chartres () is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 1 ...
, Soissons, and
Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...
. Lebègue was an influential teacher whose pupils include François d'Agincourt, Nicolas de Grigny, and probably Jean-Nicolas Geoffroy, and Gilles Jullien. It was also through Lebègue that Pierre Dumage received his first important position, at the Saint-Quentin collegiate church.


Works

Lebègue's historical importance lies in his keyboard music, of which he published five collections (all published in Paris): *''Les pièces d'orgue'' (1676): 8 organ suites in the eight Church Modes *''Les pièces de clavessin'' (1676): harpsichord suites *''2e livre d'orgue'' (1678): a
mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
and Magnificat settings for organ *''3e livre d'orgue'' (1685): ten offertories, four ''symphonies'', nine noëls, eight élévations and a program piece, ''Les cloches'' *''Second livre de clavessin'' (1687): harpsichord suites A few more pieces for harpsichord and some 20 works for organ survive in manuscript copies. Lebègue's harpsichord music continues the tradition established by Jacques Champion de Chambonnières and Louis Couperin. In the unmeasured preludes of the first book (the earliest published compositions of this kind) he uses a modified version of Couperin's abstract notation: the modifications, as Lebègue writes in the preface, aim "to present the preludes as simply as possible", and the pieces themselves are much shorter and simpler than Couperin's. To this end, he used mixed note values, as opposed to Couperin's whole notes throughout. No composers adopted Lebègue's notation, however, and his second collection of harpsichord music did not include unmeasured preludes. Another important aspect of Lebègue's harpsichord style is the tendency towards standardization: many of the suites begin with an allemande-
courante The ''courante'', ''corrente'', ''coranto'' and ''corant'' are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. In a Baroque dance suite an Italian or French courante is typically pair ...
pair, in still others it is followed by a
sarabande The sarabande (from ) is a dance in triple metre, or the music written for such a dance. History The Sarabande evolved from a Spanish dance with Arab influences, danced by a lively double line of couples with castanets. A dance called ''zara ...
, and then a
gigue The gigue ( , ) or giga () is a lively baroque dance originating from the English jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th centuryBellingham, Jane"gigue."''The Oxford Companion to Music''. Ed. Alison Latham. Oxford Music Online. 6 July ...
. Lebègue was also more formal than his predecessors in naming his compositions: none have the descriptive titles usually associated with the French harpsichord school. ''Les pièces d'orgue'', Lebègue's first published organ collection, comprises eight suites, covering all eight modes. It is generally believed to be one of the finest French organ collections of the era, and also one of the most important for the development of the French organ school. Lebègue was probably the first among French composers to introduce independent pedal parts in his pieces. He also developed one of the most characteristic forms of French organ music—the '' écit deTierce en taille''—as well as the ''trio à deux dessus'', a three-voice polyphonic work with two parts for the right hand and one for the left (which is different from the other French organ trio form, the ''trio à trois claviers'', in which the organist must use two manuals and pedal). Compared to these innovative works, the pieces in Lebègue's second book are tame, probably because the composer deliberately set out to write for amateurs and beginners (as is indicated in the publisher's preface). The third organ collection presents many different types of pieces, some incorporating Italian influences (''Première élévation''), others modelled after Lully's orchestral overtures (the four ''symphonies'').Apel 1972, 728. The nine noëls (variations on
Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a Carol (music), carol on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas and holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French or ...
s) are some of the earliest surviving examples of the genre. Only a few non-keyboard pieces by Lebègue are preserved: one hymn and a collection of
motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...
s published in 1687 in Paris as ''Motets pour les principales festes de l'année''. While the hymn is a simple pseudo-plainchant tune, the motets are important, expertly crafted works, innovative in their use of the organ not as
basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...
throughout, but, in certain sections, as a concertante voice in the texture. They were composed for the
Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
nuns of the
convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
of Val-de-Grâce. Other works, including a
Vespers Vespers /ˈvɛspərz/ () is a Christian liturgy, liturgy of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Catholic (both Latin liturgical rites, Latin and Eastern Catholic liturgy, Eastern Catholic liturgical rites), Eastern Orthodox, Oriental O ...
for two choirs, are lost.


Notes


References

* Apel, Willi. 1972. ''The History of Keyboard Music to 1700''. Translated by Hans Tischler. Indiana University Press. . Originally published as ''Geschichte der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700'' by Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel. *


External links

* *
Two extended compositions of Lebegue for use during the offertory.
*
To hear the fourth mode, which is closer to a minor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lebegue, Nicolas 1630s births 1702 deaths People from Laon French Baroque composers French male classical composers French classical organists French male organists French harpsichordists 18th-century French keyboardists 17th-century French male musicians French male classical organists