Pierre Février (21 March 1696 – 5 November 1760) 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 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 ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

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.

Biography

Born in

Abbeville Abbeville (; ; ) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu. Geography Location A ...

in 1696, he arrived in

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 ...

in 1720 and served as titular organist of two churches on Saint-Honoré street: the Jacobins' church (destroyed at the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

) and Saint-Roch (still standing). Claude-Bénigne Balbastre, who moved to Paris in 1750, was among his pupils and eventually succeeded Février at Saint-Roch. Pierre Février died in Paris on 5 November 1760.

Works

Two volumes of his harpsichord pieces are extant. The first one is dated 1734 and contains five suites: * Suite in A major ** Allemande la Magnanime ** Le Concert des Dieux - Double du concert ** La Délectable ** Le Berceau ** La Boufonne ou la Paysanne * Suite in D minor ** Fugue ** Courante ** Les Plaisirs des Sens ** Le Labyrinthe ** Ariette et doubles * Suite in B minor ** Fugue ** L'Intrépide ** La Grotesque * Suite in D major ** Gavotte et doubles ** Le Brinborion ** Le Tendre Language ** Tambourin * Suite (''Festes de Campagne'') in C major ** Entrée ** Musette ** 2 Menuets ** Le Gros Colas et la Grosse Jeanne ** Les Petites Bergères The second volume, composed after 1734 and before 1737, was discovered in the late 1990s in a private collection in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

(

Arenberg Arenberg, also spelled as Aremberg or Ahremberg, is a former county, principality and finally duchy that was located in what is now Germany. The Dukes of Arenberg remain a prominent Belgian noble family. History First mentioned in the 12th c ...

). It contains two harpsichord suites that follow a similar pattern, mixing dances and descriptive ''pièces de caractère'' in the typical late Baroque French tradition: * 1st Suite in G Minor ** Les Liens Harmoniques - Rondeau ** La Caressante - Rondeau ** La Fertillante ** La petite Coquette ** Tambourin - Rondeau * 2nd Suite in C Minor ** Allemande ** Les Tendres Tourterelles - Rondeau ** Les Croisades - Rondeau ** Menuet

References

External links

*
La Sala del Cembalo del caro Sassone
Pièces de clavecin, Premier livre, 1734. The World Premiere Recording of the first book, as recorded by the harpsichordist Fernando De Luca (Rome, December 2008), is freely available in streaming on this non-profit website devoted to the ancient music and harpsichord baroque music.
''Vulcain dupé par l'amour''
a cantatille available on the BnF website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fevrier, Pierre French Baroque composers French male classical composers French harpsichordists French classical organists 1696 births 1760 deaths People from Abbeville 18th-century French keyboardists 18th-century French classical composers 18th-century French composers 18th-century French male musicians French male classical organists

Biography

Works

See also

References

External links