During the reign of Le Roi Soleil Louis XIV, music played the fundamental role of defining and consolidating the centrality of power, both in the sphere of sacred music with the grand motets and in the sphere of opera with the comédies-ballets, tragedies-lyricas and operas-ballets by Lully, Charpentier, Delalande and Campra: music had to represent the grandeur and divine nature of the sovereign, the power and splendor of the French crown.
This is the cultural and musical context of François D'Agincour. Born in Rouen in 1684, he studied in his home town until the age of 17 with Notre-Dame organist Jacques Boyvin. He continued his training probably with Lebègue in Paris, where he was employed as organist at Sainte Madeleine-en-la-Cité for five years. Appreciated and very prominent, in 1714 he became one of the four organists of the Chapelle royal at Versailles, replacing Louis Marchand. He then also took up the post at Saint Jean in Rouen in 1726 and spent the last thirty years of his life between Versailles and Rouen.
The only printed collection published by him in 1733 contains 4 ordres for harpsichord, inspired by the descriptive nature of the titles and compositional style by those of François Couperin. Next to the dance forms of the suite emerge the pièces de caractère, most of which are rondeaux. The descriptive titles refer to single portraits (e.g., L'Empressée, La Pressante Angélique), double portraits, natural scenes, genre scenes, and places.
Played on two different harpsichords, copies of a Hemsch and Dulcken instrument, by Marco Borghetto, who won First Prize at the Wanda Landowska Harpsichord Competition 2023.
