Jean-Baptiste Forqueray
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Jean-Baptise Forqueray (b. Paris 3 April 1699; d. Paris Aug 1782), the son of Antoine Forqueray, was a player of the viol.
He is most famous today for his 1747 publication of 29 pieces for viol and continuo which he attributed to his father (except for 3 which he took credit for). In the advertissements he states that he was responsible for the bass line (thus the figures as well) and the viol fingerings. Stylistically they are very much influenced by Italian music and belong to the generation of Leclair (1697-1764) and Guignon (1702-74).
Forqueray arranged the same pieces for harpsichord and published these in 1749 (ed. C Tilney, Paris, 1970) but remarkably did not transpose any of the music, so the melodies lie relatively low in the range of the harpsichord.
Modern violists regard these Pieces de Viole as the most virtuosic music for the instrument. Only Paolo Pandolfo has attempted to record the complete publication.
He was married twice: to Jeanne Nolson on 29 July 1732 and, after her death, to the harpsichordist Marie-Rose Dubois on 13 March 1741.
Forqueray's pupils included Louis XV's daughter Princesse Henriette-Anne and the future King Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia.
[edit] Source
Mostly taken from Lucy Robinson's article in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980).
