Leclair: Complete Violin Sonatas

Jean-Marie Leclair, Premier livre de sonates, title page of the 1723 publication.

Within the series of Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era are critical editions of Jean-Marie Leclair's Complete Sonatas for Solo Violin and Continuo, edited by Robert E. Preston. These are the only modern editions of this music, and the volumes contain the most current information on the composer and his works. Scores and parts are available for all the sonatas.

As the historian John Hawkins wrote in 1776, "for grandeur and dignity of style, there are no instrumental compositions of the French musicians, not even Lully himself, which merit to be be compared with them." Leclair was a master of the sonata, and the music remains of interest to present listeners. He combined the best of French and Italian influences in works that set him apart from his contemporaries.