Nicolas Lebgue - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Nicolas Lebgue
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nicolas Lebgue (also Le Bgue; c. 1631 6 July 1702) was a French Baroque composer, organist
and harpsichordist. He was born in Laon and in the 1650s settled in Paris, quickly establishing
himself as one of the best organists of the country. He lived and worked in Paris until his death, but
frequently made trips to other cities to consult on organ building and maintenance matters.
Lebgue's reputation today rests on his keyboard music. He made particularly important
contributions to the development of the French organ school by devising pieces with independent
pedal parts and developing the Tierce en taille genre. His oeuvre also includes the earliest published
unmeasured preludes, as well as some of the earliest known nols.

Contents
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Life
Works
Notes
References
External links

Life
Lebgue was born in Laon, and nothing certain is known about his
early years or training. It may be possible that his uncle (also
named Nicolas Lebgue), a matre joueur d'instrument, played
some role in Lebgue's music education. Equally little is known
about the circumstances of Lebgue's move to Paris: the first
reference to Lebgue is found in a 1661 document, in which the
composer is already described as "the famous Parisian organist",
so by then he must have lived and worked in the city long enough
to secure a solid reputation. Although this must mean he held at
least one organist's position in Paris, where he worked is unknown.
The only post he is known to have held is at the Church of SaintMerri, where he worked since from 18 December 1664 until his
death. Lebgue started publishing his music in 1676, and in 1678
was selected to become one of the organistes du Roi ("organist to
the King"), a prestigious position he shared with GuillaumeGabriel Nivers, Jacques-Denis Thomelin, and Jean-Baptiste
Buterne.[1]

Church of Saint-Merri, where

Lebgue worked from 1664
until his death.

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The surviving copies of Lebgue's music are very numerous, and this indicates that he was a very
highly acclaimed musician. He was equally famous as an expert on organ building: in this capacity,
Lebgue travelled as far as Bourges, Blois, Chartres, Soissons, and Troyes. Finally, Lebgue was
also an influential teacher: his pupils include Franois d'Agincourt, Nicolas de Grigny, and
probably many lesser figures such as Gabriel Garnier, Jean-Nicolas Geoffroy, and Gilles Jullien.[1]
It was also through Lebgue that Pierre Dumage received his first important position, at the SaintQuentin collegiate church.[2]

Works
Lebgue's historical importance lies in his keyboard music, of
which he published five collections (all published in Paris):
Les pices d'orgue (1676): 8 organ suites in the eight
Church Modes
Les pices de clavessin (1676): harpsichord suites
2e livre d'orgue (1678): a mass and Magnificat settings
for organ
3e livre d'orgue (1685): ten offertories, four symphonies,
nine nols, eight lvations and a program piece, Les
cloches
Second livre de clavessin (1687): harpsichord suites

Title page of Troisieme livre

d'orgue

A few more pieces for harpsichord and some 20 works for organ survive in manuscript copies.
Lebgue's harpsichord music continues the tradition established by Jacques Champion de
Chambonnires and Louis Couperin. In the unmeasured preludes of the first book (the earliest
published compositions of this kind) he uses a modified version of Couperin's abstract notation: the
modifications, as Lebgue writes in the preface, aim "to present the preludes as simply as possible",
and the pieces themselves are much shorter and simpler than Couperin's. To this end, he used mixed
note values, as opposed to Couperin's whole notes throughout. No composers adopted Lebgue's
notation, however, and his second collection of harpsichord music did not include unmeasured
preludes. Another important aspect of Lebgue's harpsichord style is the tendency towards
standardization: many of the suites begin with an allemande-courante pair, in still others it is
followed by a sarabande, and then a gigue. Lebgue was also more formal than his predecessors in
naming his compositions: none have the descriptive titles usually associated with the French
harpsichord school.[1]
Les pices d'orgue, Lebgue's first published organ collection, comprises eight suites, covering all
eight modes. It is generally believed to be one of the finest French organ collections of the era, and
also one of the most important for the development of the French organ school.[1][3] Lebgue was
probably the first among French composers to introduce independent pedal parts in his pieces. He
also developed one of the most characteristic forms of French organ musicthe [Rcit de] Tierce
en tailleas well as the trio deux dessus, a three-voice polyphonic work with two parts for the

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right hand and one for the left (which is different from the other French organ trio form, the trio
trois claviers, in which the organist must use two manuals and pedal). Compared to these
innovative works, the pieces in Lebgue's second book are tame, probably because the composer
deliberately set out to write for amateurs and beginners (as is indicated in the publisher's preface).
The third organ collection presents many different types of pieces, some incorporating Italian
influences (Premire lvation), others modelled after Lully's orchestral overtures (the four
symphonies).[4] The nine nols (variations on Christmas carols) are some of the earliest surviving
examples of the genre.[1]
Only a few non-keyboard pieces by Lebgue are preserved: one hymn and a collection of motets
published in 1687 in Paris as Motets pour les principales festes de l'anne. While the hymn is a
simple pseudo-plainchant tune, the motets are important, expertly crafted works, innovative in their
use of the organ not as basso continuo throughout, but, in certain sections, as a concertante voice in
the texture.[1] They were composed for the Benedictine nuns of the convent of Val-de-Grce. Other
works, including a Vespers for two choirs, are lost.

Notes
1. Higginbottom, Grove.
2. Apel 1972, 744.
3. Apel 1972, 727.
4. Apel 1972, 728.

References
Apel, Willi. 1972. The History of Keyboard Music to 1700. Translated by Hans Tischler.
Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-21141-7. Originally published as Geschichte der
Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700 by Brenreiter-Verlag, Kassel.
Higginbottom, Edward (2001). "Nicolas Lebgue". In Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John. The New
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. xiv (2 ed.). London: Macmillan. p. 429.

External links
Free scores by Nicolas Lebgue at the International Music Score Library Project
Recordings of Lebegue works on French organs by W. D. Halsey (https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=ZGRPlessDf8) on YouTube
Two extended compositions of Lebegue for use during the offertory.
(http://www.williamdawsonhalsey.com/artoftheoffertory.html)
Another recording, also in the 5th tone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9yHggHMIbc)
on YouTube
To hear the fourth mode, which is closer to a minor (http://www.williamdawsonhalsey.com
/Lebstpons4thselec.wav)

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Categories: 1631 births 1702 deaths People from Laon Baroque composers
French classical composers French male classical composers French classical organists
18th-century keyboardists
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