Pierre Février was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, organist

Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...

 and harpsichord

Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...

ist.

Février lived in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and served as titular organist of two churches in the Saint-Honoré street: the Jacobins' church and the Saint Roch. Claude-Bénigne Balbastre

Claude-Bénigne Balbastre

Claude Balbastre was a French composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was one of the most famous musicians of his time.-Life:Claude Balbastre was born in Dijon in 1724...

, who moved to Paris in 1750, was among his pupils and succeeded Février at Saint Roch.

He composed two volumes of harpsichord pieces. 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 Langage
  • 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, has been discovered in the late 1990s in a private collection in Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 (Arenberg

Arenberg

Arenberg, also spelled as Aremberg or Ahremberg, is a historic county, principality and finally duchy located in modern Germany. The Dukes of Arenberg remain a prominent Belgian aristocratic family.- History :...

). 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

External links

• La Sala del Cembalo del caro Sassone Pieces de clavecin, premiere livre, 1734. The World Premiere Recording of the first book, as recorded by the harpsichordist Fernando De Luca
  Fernando De Luca
  Fernando De Luca is an Italian harpsichordist, teacher and composer.He studied harpsichord with Paola Bernardi.He is the most famous harpsichordist over the Internet, very popular especially in the United Kingdom and United States of America, due to his acclaimed efforts to perform and record, for...
  
  (Rome, December 2008), is freely available in streaming on this non-profit website devoted to the ancient music and harpsichord baroque music