Pierre Février


Pierre Février was a French baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist.

Biography

Born in Abbeville, Province of Picardy, in 1696, he arrived in Paris in 1720 and served as titular organist of two churches on Saint-Honoré street: the Jacobins' church and Saint-Roch. Claude-Bénigne Balbastre, who moved to Paris in 1750, was among his pupils and eventually succeeded Février at Saint-Roch. Pierre Février died in Paris on 5 November 1760.

Works

Two volumes of his harpsichord pieces are extant. The first one is dated 1734 and contains five suites:
  • Suite in A major
  • * Allemande la Magnanime
  • * Le Concert des Dieux - Double du concert
  • * La Délectable
  • * Le Berceau
  • * La Boufonne ou la Paysanne
  • Suite in D minor
  • * Fugue
  • * Courante
  • * Les Plaisirs des Sens
  • * Le Labyrinthe
  • * Ariette et doubles
  • Suite in B minor
  • * Fugue
  • * L'Intrépide
  • * La Grotesque
  • Suite in D major
  • * Gavotte et doubles
  • * Le Brinborion
  • * Le Tendre Language
  • * Tambourin
  • Suite in C major
  • * Entrée
  • * Musette
  • * 2 Menuets
  • * Le Gros Colas et la Grosse Jeanne
  • * Les Petites Bergères
The second volume, composed after 1734 and before 1737, was discovered in the late 1990s in a private collection in Belgium. It contains two harpsichord suites that follow a similar pattern, mixing dances and descriptive pièces de caractère in the typical late Baroque French tradition:
  • 1st Suite in G Minor
  • * Les Liens Harmoniques - Rondeau
  • * La Caressante - Rondeau
  • * La Fertillante
  • * La petite Coquette
  • * Tambourin - Rondeau
  • 2nd Suite in C Minor
  • * Allemande
  • * Les Tendres Tourterelles - Rondeau
  • * Les Croisades - Rondeau
  • * Menuet