Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre

(1665-1729)

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Born into a prominent family of musicians and harpsichord builders in 1665, Elisabeth Jacquet received her first music instruction from her father, a master instrument maker and organist at the Église Saint-Louis-en-Île in Paris. The most gifted of the four Jacquet children, Elisabeth played the harpsichord, recorder and various small viols.

In 1673, she made her debut at the court of Louis XIV, where she was proclaimed a true prodigy. The Sun King encouraged Elisabeth to “cultivate the marvelous talent that Nature has given her.” The king’s mistress, Madame de Montespan, immediately invited her to live at Versailles as part of her entourage. Here young Elisabeth stayed, performing and completing her general education.

By 1677, Elisabeth Jacquet was hailed in the journal Mercure Galant : “She sings at sight the most difficult music. She accompanies herself and others who wish to sing, at the harpsichord, which she plays in a manner that cannot be imitated. She composes pieces and plays them in all the keys asked of her.”

Elisabeth Jacquet married Marin de la Guerre, an organist and harpsichord teacher in 1684. The couple moved from Versailles back to Paris, where she taught and gave concerts at home and throughout the city. Although no longer at the court, Elisabeth continued to maintain her connections there, and throughout her life dedicated all but one of her publications to Louis XIV.

Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre had been composing seriously since 1680, but many of her early works have been lost. In 1687, she published her first book of four suites for harpsichord. Four years later, to celebrate the capture of the Belgian city of Mons by Louis’ troops, she composed the ballet Les Jeux de l’Honneur de la Victoire. In 1694, she staged her tragic opera, Céphale et Procris, at the Academie Royale. It was the first produced French opera written by a woman.

The following year, she wrote violin solo and trio sonatas, just five years after such music first appeared in France. A veritable parade of publications of her secular and biblical cantatas, sonatas, songs, and keyboard suites placed her at the very top of 17th century French music.

Even after the death of her son in 1695, and that of her father and her husband in the beginning of the 18th century, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, remained professionally active, publishing and performing until 1717 when she retired. She lived in the parish of St. Eustache in Paris, and passed away in 1729, still greatly admired at court and in the city.

In 1776, the historian John Hawkins in his General History of the Science and Practice of Music, considered her one of the greatest musicians France had ever produced, “So rich and exquisite a flow of harmony has captivated all that heard her.”