DAQUIN, LOUIS CLAUDE

Popular keyboard composer of the late French baroque; b. Paris, July 4, 1694; d. there, July 15, 1772. The family was of Jewish ancestry and took its surname from Aquino, where one of its members, a rabbi of Avignon, was baptized. During the 17th century, this family contributed several distinguished men to French public life. Louis Claude was a godson of Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, who probably instructed him. At six he played before Louis XIV, and at eight he studied with Marchand. Like Marchand, Daquin became a master of improvisation and was praised by his rival rameau as well as by Bédos de Celles. Always associated with Parisian churches, Daquin was appointed to the royal chapel in 1739 and to Notre Dame a few years later. In 1735 he published his Piéces de clavecin, which includes a number of descriptive or programmatic pieces such as the rondeau "The Swallow." His second collection, Livre de Noëls, contains variations on popular Christmas tunes for organ or harpsichord with instruments. As was the custom with French rococo organists, Daquin depended on his instrument for expressive effects, and hence indicated precise registration.

Bibliography: Works. Livre de clavecin (Paris 1735), ed. p. brunold and h. expert; Livre de noëls in Archives des maîtres de l'orgue, ed. a. guilmant, v.3 (Paris 1900). Literature. n. doufourcq, La Musique d'orgue française de Jehan Titelouze à Jehan Alain (2d ed. Paris 1949). f. raugel, Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, ed. f. blume (Kassel-Basel 1949–) 3:1–2; Les Organistes (Paris 1923). a. pirro, Les Clavecinistes (Paris 1924). Histoire de la musique, ed. roland-manuel 2 v. (Paris 1960–63) v.1. k. g. fellerer, The History of Catholic Church Music, tr. f. a. brunner (Baltimore 1961). m. f. bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era (New York 1947). e. higginbottom, "Louis-Claude Daquin" The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. 5, ed. s. sadie (New York 1980) 238–239. j.-p. montagnier, La Vie et L'Œuvre de Louis-Claude Daquin (1694–1772) (Lyon 1992). d. m. randel, ed., The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music 196 (Cambridge, Massachusetts 1996). n. slonimsky, ed., Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Eighth Edition (New York 1992) 391.

[d. beikman]