French Harpsichord Music

FAIN: FA-11398-76

David R. Fuller
SUNY Research Foundation, Buffalo State College (Buffalo, NY 14222-1004)

To write a book on French harpsichord music of the 17th and 18th centuries, a repertory clearly circumscribed in chronology and style, including the great composers--Louis and Francois Couperin, D'Anglebert and Rameau--from the excellent to the very weak. Although there have been chapters on French harpsichord music in more general studies, and there have been articles and monographs on various aspects of the subject, the only book to be entirely devoted to it is in Polish and deals with but a few of the mainstream composers. The book will be primarily a critical study of the music and its development, but biographical, social, and general artistic matters will receive special attention since the styles referred to the milieu that engendered them.