The portrait is of the French composer and harpsichordist Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729). At the age of five Elisabeth Jacquet was already a virtuoso performer, and played before Louis XIV. Madame de Montespan kept her on at court, until Elisabeth married the organist Michel de la Guerre in 1684. Therreupon she left the court as Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre, tahught, performed and composed.
The first years of the eighteenth century were bad times for her, with the deaths of practically all her close family, but she returned to composition around 1707.
Her first book of harpsichord pieces (1687) was one of the earliest to be published. I love playing her Pieces de Clavessin. They are thoughtful, meditative, inventive, sensitive, with beautiful and sometimes unexpected harmonies. The video is of the third suite from the Premier Livre. Hope you like it.
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