Pierre Février

Pierre Février (1696–1760) was a French baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. Born at Abbeville on 21 March 1696, he arrived in Paris in 1720 and served as titular organist of two churches on Saint-Honoré street: the Jacobins' church (destroyed at the Revolution) and Saint-Roch (still standing). 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. 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 (Festes de Campagne) in C major Entrée Musette 2 Menuets Le Gros Colas et la Grosse Jeanne Les Petites BergèresThe second volume, composed after 1734 and before 1737, was discovered in the late 1990s in a private collection in Belgium (Arenberg). 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