Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665–1729)
A prodigy harpsichordist at the court of Louis XIV, the first woman in France to compose an opera, author of harpsichord suites, sonatas and cantatas.
Born in Paris in 1665 into a family of musicians and instrument makers, Élisabeth Jacquet played the harpsichord before Louis XIV from the age of five. Noticed by the king, she was placed under the protection of Madame de Montespan and grew up at court.
In 1684 she married the organist Marin de La Guerre and settled in Paris, where she became a famous harpsichordist and improviser. In 1687 she published a first book of Pièces de clavecin, one of the very first collections of its kind printed in France.
In 1694 her opera Céphale et Procris was staged at the Académie royale de musique: the first opera composed by a woman in France. She also wrote violin sonatas, among the first in France, and French cantatas on subjects from the Bible.
She died in Paris in 1729. A medal struck in her honour bore the inscription: “I competed for the prize with the great musicians”.
Piano sheet music (6)
- Allemande (Suite in D minor) · level 4
- Second Courante (Suite in D minor) · level 4
- Sarabande (Suite in D minor) · level 3
- Gigue (Suite in D minor) · level 4
- Sarabande (Suite in A minor) · level 3
- Minuet in G minor · level 3