Baroque
Baroque
Classical
Romantic
20th century
21st century
Solo repertoire
Piccolo
Alto flute
Bass flute
Marais Marin
Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel
Bach, Johann Sebastian
Benda, Franz
Blavet, Michel
Boccherini, Luigi
Handel, George Frideric
Leclair, Jean-Marie l'aîné
Marais, Marin
Müthel, Johann Gottfried
Pergolesi, Giovanni Battista
Platti, Giovanni Benedetto
Quantz, Johann Joachim
Telemann, Georg Philipp
Vivaldi, Antonio
Les Folies d'Espagne for flute solo in D minor
Les Folies d'Espagne for flute solo in D minor
M. Marais: Couplets de folies for solo flute in D minor was first published in 1701. It consists of the theme and 31 variations. It may be possible that the idea of variations came from Corelli's Opus 5 with twenty-three variations since both works have similar solo and viola da gamba integration. The origin of the main theme is Iberian dance, hence the title of these variations.
Marais Marin
Marin Marais (1656-1728) was a French composer and renown viola da gamba player in the French royal court orchestra of Versailles (1676-1725).
He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully and is recognized as the first French composer to write trio sonatas. Additionally, Marais is considered as one of the first composers of program music, sometimes including annotations to his compositions (e.g. The Bladder-Stone Operation: the patient is bound with silken cords). He also composed several operas (Ariane et Bacchus; Alcyone; Sémélé) and published several books of viola da gamba music.
It is worth to watch a movie Tous Les Matins Du Monde (All the Mornings of the World) about Marin Marais, brilliantly played by Gerard Depardieu, depicting Marais at the end of his career and Guillaume Depardieu as a young and promising viola da gamba player.