Marais: Pièces favorites

Featuring

François Joubert-Caillet
L’Achéron
Marin Marais

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Recording & Production

This album is part of a larger, multi-year project by Ricercar and violist François Joubert-Caillet to record all five volumes of Marin Marais' Pièces de Viole.

Composer Biography

Marin Marais was a pupil of Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, a renowned viol master, who famously declared that while pupils might surpass their teachers, Marais would never find anyone to surpass him.

Compositional Technique

The five Livres de Pièces de Viole by Marin Marais are also pedagogical works, embodying the techniques of the French viol school, such as the use of fine strings, a long bow, and imitating the human voice.

Cultural Impact

Many of Marin Marais' pieces have become "hits" of early music, popularized by the film Tous les Matins du Monde and legendary recordings by artists like August Wenzinger, Wieland Kuijken, and Jordi Savall.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Marin Marais' music, though always in the traditional dance suite form, continually offered new characters and moods, never repeating himself, and pleased King Louis XIV with its subtlety and finesse.

Historical Context

Marin Marais served the French court for over fifty years, performing in private concerts for King Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon at the Palace of Versailles.

Composer Biography

Marin Marais, a Parisian by birth, came from modest origins as the son of a shoemaker, but his singing talent led him to the choir of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois at age ten.