Œuvre pour clavecin

Among the French harpsichord repertoire of the early 1700s, there are two composers in particular who have attracted my attention time and again. It is not simply because of the remarkable quality of their music, but the curious similarities that link them. They are Louis Marchand and Louis Nicolas Clérambault. We are in Paris. The two musicians are both about thirty years old, and between 1699 and 1703 they each publish two books of Pièces de Clavecin. They are linked by the fact that a single publisher, Claude Roussel, will print three of the four volumes, and especially by the fact that for the rest of their lives neither of them will publish any more harpsichord music. Only one short piece by Marchand - La Vénitienne - will appear in an anthology in 1707. The absence of any further compositions for the harpsichord from these two composers is remarkable. In Clérambault's case, this is because his interest turns to vocal music, but for Marchand, an acclaimed instrumentalist until the end of his days, this fact still remains unexplained.