Description
Nicolas de Grigny was the most erudite of all Grand siècle organ composers. His 1699 publication of Premier livre d’orgue was again reprinted in 1711 under the auspices of Christophe Ballard, with a few corrections to the original engraved plates. Copies were made by J. S. Bach and J. G. Walther, and these have formed the backbone of several currently available editions. However, this Lyrebird publication is the first not to rely on the German composers’ revisions of the musical text. A substantial preface examines Grigny’s life, engraving in 17th-century France, assesses Bach and Walther’s copies and places these into a cultural perspective. Notes on performance practice discuss fingering, time signatures and temporal relationships. A further section discusses that arbiter of good taste, le bon goût, by examining contemporary essays concerning expression, ornamentation, rhetoric, and notes inégales. Appropriate chants, sourced from Grigny’s home city of Reims, provide the first accurate matches for the plainsong melodies in the organ mass and the five hymns. It also provides propers for performance in liturgical contexts.
