MARAIS: La Voix de la Viole [CD de audio] Ensemble La Bellemont and Marin Marais

Marin Marais, a French composer and gambist, came from Paris (1656-1728). His musical career began as a chorister at the parish church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, where the composer François Couperin was the director and took note of the young man. Marais later entered the service of Louis XIV, where he worked with the famous Jean-Baptiste Lully, who greatly appreciated Marais. He had learned to play the viola da gamba from Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, the greatest viola da gamba virtuoso. Legend has it that Marais secretly listened to his teacher playing in his garden hut after the teacher refused to teach him more, fearing that Marais would surpass him (the story is found in the film The Seventh String). Wonderful pieces are the 32 variations on the Portuguese song La Folia. The melody of the piece was very popular in the Renaissance world. Arcangelo Corelli also published variations on La Folia, on which Rachmaninoff later wrote his famous piano variations. Franz Liszt immortalized the theme in his Spanish Rhapsody. The Spanish ensemble La Bellemont, directed by harpsichordist Laura Puerto, specializes in Iberian and French Renaissance and Baroque music.