Marin Marais
Baroque · 1656–1728
Marin Marais spent his career at the court of Louis XIV in France, playing the viola da gamba, a fretted, six- or seven-stringed instrument held between the knees like a cello but with a softer, speech-like voice. Born in Paris in 1656, a shoemaker's son, he started as a choirboy, studied the viol with the reclusive virtuoso Sainte-Colombe, and joined the royal musical establishment as a young man, serving it for decades.
He published five books of pieces for his instrument, hundreds of dances, character sketches, and laments that remain the heart of the viol's repertoire, and he wrote operas for the Paris stage as well. One oddity of his catalogue: a piece depicting, movement by movement, a surgical operation for bladder stones. He died in Paris in 1728.
Start with a good anthology drawn from his books of viol pieces; a fine player will show you in a few tracks why this quiet instrument inspired such devotion.
85 works in the catalog, across 2 genres. Log what you listen to with Opus, the classical music journal for iPhone.
Chamber
- 2 Menuets in C minor, for viola da gamba and continuo
- 2 Musettes in A minor, nos. 28-29
- Allemande et double in G major, nos. 94-95
- Allemande in C minor, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Allemande la Magnifique et double in G major, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Allemande la Marianne in G minor, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Chaconne, for viola da gamba and continuo in G
- Chaconne en rondeau in G major, no. 82
- Cloches ou Carillons in D minor, no. 38
- Couplets de folies in D minor, no. 20
- Courante in C minor, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Courante in G major, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Dialogue, for viola da gamba and continuo in G
- Fantaisie et double in C minor, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Gigue a l'angloise in G major, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Gigue in C minor, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Gigue la Pagode in G minor, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Gigue la petite in G major, no. 101
- Gigue la Precieuse in G major, for viola da gamba and continuo
- La Gamme en Forme de Petit Opéra, for violin, viola da gamba and continuo in C
- La Georgienne dite la Maupertuis in G minor, no. 73
- La Guitare in G major, no. 107
- La Muzette in G major, no. 105
- La Polonaise, in D minor, no. 40
- La Reveuse, for viola da gamba and continuo in F minor
- La Sonnerie de Sainte Geneviève du Mont à Paris, for violin, viola da gamba, and continuo
- Le basque et double, nos. 39-40
- Le Jeu du volant in G major, no. 87
- Les folies d'Espagne
- Les Relevailles, for viola da gamba and continuo in E minor
- Les Voix Humaines in D major, no. 63
- Marche a la turque, for viola da gamba and continuo in A
- Marche persane dite La Savigny in E minor, no. 102
- Pieces de viole: Suite in D minor, for guitar, viola da gamba and theorbo
- Pièces de viole
- Pièces à une et à trois viola da gamba
- Prélude en harpegement in A minor, no. 16
- Prélude in C minor, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Prélude in G major, no. 65
- Prélude in G minor, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Rondeau in C minor, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Rondeau le Troilleur, for viola da gamba and continuo in G
- Saillie du Caffé et double, for viola da gamba and continuo in C
- Saillie du Jardin in G major, no. 85
- Sarabande a l'Espagnol in E minor, no. 101
- Sarabande Grave in G major, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Sarabande in G minor, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Saraband Grave in C minor, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Sonate à la Marésienne, for violin, viola da gamba, and continuo in C
- Suite, for 3 violas da gamba and continuo in D major, nos. 88-96
- Suite, for 3 violas da gamba and continuo in G major, nos. 97-108
- Suite d'un gout etranger, nos. 55b-87
- Suite en Trio, no. 2
- Suite for 2 Treble Instruments and Continuo in B flat major
- Suite for 2 Treble Instruments and Continuo in C minor
- Suite for 2 Treble Instruments and Continuo in C minor
- Suite for 2 Treble Instruments and Continuo in E minor
- Suite for 2 Treble Instruments and Continuo in G minor
- Suite for viola da gamba and continuo in A minor
- Suite for viola da gamba and continuo in A minor
- Suite for viola da gamba and continuo in B minor
- Suite for viola da gamba and continuo in D
- Suite for viola da gamba and continuo in E minor
- Suite for viola da gamba and continuo in G
- Suite for viola da gamba and continuo in G minor
- Suite in A minor
- Suite in A minor, for 2 viola da gambas, guitar, theorbo and harpsichord
- Suite in A minor, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Suite in B Major: Plainte
- Suite in C
- Suite in D
- Suite in D
- Suite in D Major
- Suite in D major, for viola da gamba and continuo
- Suite in D minor, for 2 violas da gamba and continuo, nos. 66-72
- Suite in E minor
- Suite in G
- Suite in G major, for 2 viola da gambas, guitar, theorbo and harpsichord
- Suite in G major, for 2 violas da gamba and continuo, nos. 73-82
- Suite in G minor
- Sujet Diversitez: Theme and 20 variations, for viola da gamba and continuo in G
- Tableau de l'operation de la taille, for viola da gamba and continuo in E minor
- Tombeau de Mr. Meliton, for 2 violas da gamba and continuo in G minor, no. 83
- Tombeau pour Marais le Cadet in G minor, no. 71
Stage
- Sémélé Opera
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