Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer is a representative of the French
harpsichord school of the mid-18th century. He has been a little
overshadowed by his more famous contemporaries, such as Rameau, Duphly and
Balbastre. In particular the latter two published their main books with
pièces de clavecin at about the same time as Royer. His first book
was printed in 1746; according to
New Grove a number of other
harpsichord pieces are lost.
The present disc includes the only extant piece which has been preserved
in manuscript,
La Chasse de Zaïde. It is a transcription of an
instrumental movement from Royer's
Zaïde, a
ballet-héroïque which was premiered in 1739. It is one of
Royer's theatre works.
Today Royer is almost exclusively known as a composer of keyboard music,
but he wrote several works for the theatre. These are hardly known; to my
knowledge only
Le pouvoir de l'amour is available on disc,
the result of a live performance under the auspices of the Oberlin
Conservatory of Music (2002). Several of his harpsichord pieces are
transcriptions of movements from his operas, and they suggest that he was a
skilled composer in this department.
In 1734 Royer was appointed
maître de musique des enfants de
France, which meant that he was responsible for the musical education
of the children of King Louis XV. Several of them were musically gifted, and
the first book of harpsichord pieces was dedicated to the two daughters.
These pieces document the changes in the aesthetics of the time. Character
pieces as we know them from Couperin's
ordres are rare and
so are dances. Those which are included in this book have little in common
with the older types. At the time of publication the form of the
rondeau became increasingly popular, in instrumental chamber music
as well as in keyboard music. Seven of the fifteen items are
rondeaux. They are grouped according to keys, but there are no
indications that they should be played as suites. In his preface Royer
wrote: "The pieces are open to great variety, passing from the tender
to the lively, from the simple to the tumultuous, often successively within
the same piece".
In his transcriptions of extracts from his own operas Royer followed in
the footsteps of Rameau. His colleague Balbastre also often played opera
transcriptions which were never published and are preserved in manuscript.
La Zaïde, La Marche des Scythes and
La Chasse de Zaïde are
arrangements of instrumental items from
Zaïde.
Les Matelots,
Tambourin I and the
Allemande are based on music from
Le
pouvoir de l'amour, a
ballet héroïque, first performed
in 1743. Most of them belong to the lively or even
'tumultuous' genre, but
La Zaïde is a specimen of the
'tender' genre.
'Tender' is also a good description of pieces such as
La
Sensible,
L'Aimable and
Les Tendres
Sentiments. 'Tumultuous' is
Le Vertigo, meaning
'the capricious', characterised by heavy and frequently
repeated chords. Closest to a traditional character piece is
La
Remouleuse, probably depicting a knife grinder, which would explain the
repeated motif.
La Bagatelle is a restless piece with short,
pungent chords.
The Spanish harpsichordist Yago Mahugo delivers good performances. I
especially liked the 'tender' and 'sensible'
items. These are performed with elegance and refinement. In the more
theatrical pieces I slightly prefer Christophe Rousset who recorded
Royer's harpsichord book in 2007 (Ambroisie AM 151). His performances
are more dramatic and stronger in contrast, for instance in
Le
Vertigo. The differences are partly due to the instruments these
performers use. It seems to me that Rousset's Goujon/Swanen
harpsichord (1st half 18th century/1784) is better suited to this repertoire
than Mahugo's copy of a Ruckers (1638). In the quieter pieces the
differences are less prominent. However, if you purchase his recording you
won't regret it. Considering that Royer's music is not that
well known this disc is most welcome. Harpsichord aficionados will be
especially interested to hear
La Chasse de Zaïde which was omitted
from Rousset's recording.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
