Allemande from Suite No. 2 by Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre Orchestra - Sheet Music

SKU: CF.YAS256

ISBN 9781491167717. UPC: 680160927135. 9x12 inches. Key: G major.

The daughter of a French harpsichord maker, Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre first learned to play under her father’s tutelage. At a young age, she was brought into the court of King Louis as a musician. Élisabeth taught, composed, and performed throughout Paris - a rare accomplishment for a woman at that time. This Allemande from her Suite No. 2 features the elegant style of the period. Originally highly ornamented, this arrangement has been simplified so that developing players may experience the music of this historically important composer.
This arrangement is from the second harpsichord suite by Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1659 - 1729). Her works are some of the earliest examples of compositions written by a woman. As was typical of French composers of the time, she enjoyed rich ornamentation in her keyboard works which display elegance and extremely graceful melodies. It is a typical binary form (AB) with the A section starting in G major and the B section veering into D major. There is interesting chromatic motion which is clearly marked and easily fingered. I only discovered her music recently, not hearing of her in the many courses in music history that I had in college and graduate school. I am happy to be able to arrange it for string orchestra so that our students can appreciate the talents of the underrepresented female composers of the past along side Bach, Handel, Purcell, Rameau, et al. She is the first woman known to have composed an opera.