La Font: Premier livre de pièces de clavecin (1759)

This edition presents the newly rediscovered harpsichord works of Pierre Nicolas La Font (ca. 1725–ca. 1791), which survive in a single known copy now housed at the University of California, Berkeley. La Font was organist at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and published two volumes of keyboard music, in 1759 and 1773 respectively. The surviving copy of the Premier livre comprises seventeen pieces (including one with violin accompaniment), the last of which is left incomplete. The reemergence of these pieces makes it possible to connect the composer with some of the most important musical and aristocratic families of mid-eighteenth-century France, and brings La Font’s virtuosic music back from obscurity, providing a valuable addition to the harpsichord repertoire.

 

Performance part (for violin) is available as a separate purchase. Digital prints are also available for this title.

 

Publication of this edition was supported by the James R. Anthony Endowment of the American Musicological Society, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.