The Angel Marais

Description

Marais mastered all the subtleties of uneven bowing and embellishments, and this, among other things, gave his music its undeniably French character. Other musicians, also French, the most famous of whom was Antoine Forqueray, would have chosen an Italianate aesthetic. Thus, in his *Defense of the Bass Alto* (1740), the critic Hubert Le Blanc compared the two musicians, stating that Marin Marais played “like an angel” and Antoine Forqueray, “like the devil.” Marin Marais published five books of pieces for viols and basso continuo. The fourth, published in 1717, is the most interesting. It contains these two Pieces for Three Viols. Marais notes that this is the first time in France that such a work, in three independent parts, has been written.