Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: Reclaiming a Place in Music History
Written by Hannah Lee Tungate, founder and Creative Producer of Tenth Muse Initiative.
3rd October, 2024.
When writing about Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, it's tempting to focus on her gender, as hstorians of her time often did. They frequently noted that no woman had ever achieved such success as a composer before her, but that perspective diminishes her true accomplishments. Jacquet de la Guerre’s significance lies in her mastery of music, not in her gender. She was an extraordinary composer whose work deserves a place in music history alongside her male contemporaries.
We know that the contributions of women throughout music history have been overlooked and undermined by the societies around them and often their descendants allowed them to fall into obscurity. Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre and her works are deserving of recognition for their contribution to French music history. Born 5 years after Alessandro Scarlatti, and a contemporary of Jean-Baptiste Lully, she was one of the first French women to have written an opera & ballet and one of the first composers of sonatas in France, along with her cousin François Couperin.
Her story is remarkable not just for her gender, but for the breadth of her achievements. Born into a family with deep musical roots, Jacquet de la Guerre's talent was evident from an early age. She came from a long line of master masons, musicians, composers and instrument makers. Her father Claude and Grandfather Jehan were both master harpsichord makers. The Jacquet family’s trades put them in close proximity to the nobility, but the family were far from noble themselves. They operated through alliances, trading, and creating job opportunities. Claude Jacquet educated all his children to survive and thrive. Élisabeth and her sister Anne both became musicians, and Élisabeth became a composer.
By the age of five, Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre was performing at the court of King Louis XIV, captivating audiences with her ability to play harpsichord, and later accompanying singers, and even sight-reading challenge pieces. Jacquet de la Guerre became a fixture of the French Court, staying until the court moved to Versailles. After marrying organist Marin de La Guerre in 1684, she continued to compose and gave concerts at home and throughout Paris to great acclaim.
Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre’s body of work spans multiple genres, from instrumental compositions like her Pièces de Clavecin (1687), which showcased her mastery of harpsichord and its unmeasured preludes, to larger works such as her tragédie lyrique Céphale et Procris (1694), the first opera by a French woman performed at the Académie Royale de Musique. Her cantatas, in particular, were groundbreaking. Among her twelve biblical cantatas, five focused on women—an intriguing choice, given that few composers explored such themes. Her mastery of both Italian and French recitative styles made her work distinct and innovative.
Despite her success, Jacquet de la Guerre’s legacy, like that of many other women composers, has largely been forgotten. Women in the Baroque period, including Francesca Caccini and Barbara Strozzi, faced societal limitations that made it difficult for their achievements to be preserved or acknowledged in the same way as their male counterparts. For Jacquet de la Guerre, it was her nephews who inherited her unpublished works and made no attempt to publish them. Though her unpublished works languished after her death, thanks to the last sixty years scholarship and the rediscovery of manuscripts, her music is experiencing a well-deserved revival.
Today, rediscovering and performing composers like Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre is not just about righting historical wrongs—it’s about enriching our musical world with the diverse voices and perspectives that have long been missing. Programming underrepresented composers opens up new horizons for performers and audiences alike, challenging long-held assumptions about what classical music can be.
Composers like Jacquet de la Guerre offer not only historical inspiration but also a path forward. Her music deserves to be heard, and her story is a reminder that musical genius has always transcended gender and societal expectations.
“a very fine performer, and would sing and accompany herself with so rich and exquisite a flow of harmony as captivated all that heard her. She was also an excellent composer, and, in short, possessed such a degree of skill, as well in the science as the practice of music, that but few of her sex have equalled her.””
About Hannah:
Hannah is a soprano, producer, arts administrator, and the founder of Tenth Muse Initiative. Driven by her passion for performing works of marginalised composers, Hannah dedicates her spare time to research and advocacy, through Women’s Composers Project. With a penchant for exploring lesser-known pieces, Hannah embraces the challenge of early baroque cantatas and 21st century art songs.
Click the button below for information about HIP Company’s concerts, Élisabeth, on 19th and 20th October, 2024.
Portrait of Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729)
- oil on canvas, by François du Troy
Sources:
Beer, Anna. Sounds and Sweet Airs. Oneworld Publications, 2016.
Cessac, Catherine. "Jacquet de La Guerre, Elisabeth." Grove Music Online. 2001. Oxford University Press. Date of access 29 Sep. 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.14084.
Cyr, Mary. “Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre: Myth or Marvel? Seeking the Composer’s Individuality.” Musical Times, vol. 149, no. 1905, The Musical Times Publications Ltd, 2008, pp. 79–87, https://doi.org/10.2307/25434573.
Hawkins, John: A general history of the science and practice of music (London, 1776), vol. 2, p. 779.
Jackson, Barbara Garvey. “Musical Women of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.” Women and Music: A History, edited by Karin Pendle. Indiana University Press, 2001.
Pilcher, Ryan. “The Impact of Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre on Gender Roles in Music.” The Owl (Tallahassee, Fla. Print), vol. 4, no. 1, 2014.
Porter, Cecelia Hopkins. “Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de La Guerre.” Five Lives in Music, University of Illinois Press, 2012, https://doi.org/10.5406/illinois/9780252037016.003.0003.