Sofia Diniz LA LYRE D'APOLLON

Jacques Morel was one of many excellent musicians active in France during the ‘golden period’ encompassing both the Grand-Siècle of Louis XIV, the subsequent Régence, and extending on through most of the 18th century. Due to a scarcity of contemporary sources, we know very little about Morel’s life and the simultaneous existence of other musicians of the same name further confuses matters. It is possible that we are in the presence of a musical dynasty, a common occurrence during this period, though it is not easy to establish connections between the various Morels that appear at this time. Beside Jaques Morel, who describes himself as ‘Page de la Musique du Roy’ there is another (or the same?) ‘Sieur Morel’, former organist at Soissons who in 1749 announces a Livre de pièces ajustées au pardessus [de viole] à cinq cordes; Antoine Morel, an opera singer; and Morel ‘de la Ferronerie’, a composer, and even a later Morel, harpsichord maker active in Paris in the 1770s.
It is the first integral recording of the 1er Livre de Pieces de Violle – 1st Book of Suites for the Viol – composed by Jacques Morel (ca. 1690 – 1740) and first published in Paris in 1709. It consists of four Suites for viola da gamba and continuo – a minor, d minor, d major and g major, respectively – and a Chaconne en trio pour une Flûte Traversiere, une Viole et lá Basse Continuë! Sofia Diniz chooses the harpsichord – Fernando Miguel Jalôto – and theorbo – Josep Maria Martí Duran – for the instrumentation of the Basso Continuo without the use of a second viol. In the chaconne you can also hear Peter Holtslag in the traverso.