(b Bordeaux, 2 May 1707; d Paris, 6 June 1747). French composer and cellist. He probably lived in Bordeaux since at his death he was cited as a ‘négociant de la ville de Bordeaux’, and after his death a privilege was granted to a ‘Sr Francois Barrière, prestre prébendier de l'église de Bordeaux, pour des Sonates et autres ouvrages de musique instrumentale du feu Jean Barrière’. In 1730 he lived in Paris as a Musicien ordinaire de notre Académie Royale de Musique. In 1733 he was granted a privilege for six years to publish ‘plusieurs Sonates et autres ouvrages de musique instrumentale’. According to Fétis, he went to Rome in 1736 to study with the famous Italian cellist Francesco Alborea, called Francischello. He remained in Italy for three years, but probably did not study with Francischello, who was employed by the court in Vienna from 1726 until his death in 1739. Barrière returned to Paris in 1739 and continued composing for the cello: ‘Le Sieur Barrière, de retour d'Italie à Paris, vient de faire graver son troisième livre de Sonates pour le Violoncelle’ (Mercure de France, November 1739). In 1739 his privilege was renewed for 12 years, and during that time he published his last three books – one each for cello, pardessus de viole and harpsichord.
The cello sonatas include a variety of technical problems – passages in double 3rds, arpeggiated chords and multiple stops, and brilliant virtuoso passages extending into the upper range. Each sonata has four or five movements, beginning with a slow movement and ending with a quick one. Several Allegros are titled Allemanda and book 2 no.3 includes a Sarabanda and Minuetto after the Allemande. The final movement of book 2 no.6 is marked ‘Giga’. Several sonatas include an ‘aria’ or simple songlike piece in 6/8 or 6/4 marked either ‘amorosa’ or ‘gratioso’. In the variations on the aria of book 3 no.6 brilliant arpeggios run throughout the entire range (C to a') while the aria melody is heard above (this sonata and possibly others may have been written for the cello piccolo). That the sonatas were meant to be accompanied by a second cello and a keyboard instrument is apparent from the Adagio of book 2 no.4, which includes an independent part for the second cello. Book 3 no.2 is for two cellos throughout with continuo (three cellos in all).
Books 3 and 4, published after Barrière's Italian journey, are technically more advanced and reflect his absorption of the Italian style. Many of the sonatas of book 3 include Italianate suite movements such as Giga and Corrente. These sonatas range from three to five movements, and several have transitional Adagios between movements. Some passages in his work suggest the use of the thumb of the left hand in the upper register (e'' in book 5 no.6), a technique which he probably introduced in France.
The first five sonatas for the pardessus de viole (book 5) appear, rewritten with additional ornamentation, elaboration and idiomatic runs, as the first five sonatas in book 6 for the harpsichord. Following the six sonatas are five pièces, each named for a musician or acquaintance. Like Duphly and Rameau, Barrière entitled one of his pieces ‘La Boucon’ for Anne-Jeanne Boucon, who later married Mondonville.
Barrière, like Martin Berteau, was one of the finest cello virtuosos in France during the first half of the 18th century, and the first to write thoroughly idiomatic music for the cello. Although his playing was highly regarded, there are few extant specific descriptions of it. At a Concert Spirituel he played with ‘grande précision’ (8 September 1738, Mercure de France), and P.-L. d'Aquin wrote of him with highest praise: ‘Le fameux Barrière, mort depuis peu, possedoit tout ce que l'on peut désirer … il n'y avoit guère d'exécution comme la sienne’.
|
[6] Sonates, vc, bc, bks 1–4 (Paris, 1733–9); bk 3, no.2 for 2 vc, bc; bk 3 and bk 4 nos.1, 2, 4–6 ed. M. Chaigneau and W.M. Rummel as 12 [sic] sonates pour violoncelle et piano, bks 1, 2 (Paris, 1920–25); bks 2, 4 ed. J. Adas: Mid Eighteenth-Century Cello Sonatas, xix (New York, 1991) |
|
[6] Sonates, pardessus de viole, bc, bk 5 (Paris, 1739) |
|
[6] Sonates et [5] pièces, hpd, bk 6 (Paris, 1739); sonatas 1–5 same as bk 5, nos.1–5 |
FétisB
P.-L. d'Aquin: Lettres sur les hommes célèbres … sous le règne de Louis XV (Paris, 1752, 2/1753/R as Siècle littéraire de Louis XV ou lettres sur les hommes célèbres
A. Vidal: Les instruments à archet, ii (Paris, 1877), 330
M. Brenet: ‘La librairie musicale en France de 1653 à 1790 d'après les registres de privilèges’, SIMG, viii (1906–7), 401–66
J. Adas: ‘Le célèbre Berteau’, EMc, xvii (1989), 368–80
M. Benoit: Dictionnaire de la musique en France aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles (Paris, 1992)
MARY CYR