Jean-Adam Guilain

Neither the date nor the place of his birth is known. The French Wikipedia article has him born in the Holy Roman Empire around 1680, the German article between 1670 and 1680, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France simply records him as active from 1702 to 1739. According to André Pirro, his real name was Guillaume Freinsberg; the name Guilain is said to be a French adaptation of his third forename, Guillaume or Wilhelm. He was a Catholic, though it is not known whether he was baptised in that faith or converted to it.

He settled in Paris around 1702; in May of that year the Mercure galant printed an air by him, “C’est toy, divin Bacchus”. The German article credits him with a solid reputation as a harpsichord teacher. He was connected with Louis Marchand, whose pupil he almost certainly was; the German article also makes him a friend of Marchand and probably his deputy at the church of Saint-Honoré. No other circumstance of his life is known.

The collection is entitled Pièces d’orgue pour le Magnificat sur les huit tons différents de l’Église and is dedicated to Marchand. According to the English and German articles, it was published in 1706 in two volumes, of which only the first survives; the French article speaks of a manuscript of 1706 kept in Berlin, together with a copy dated 1733. Of the eight suites announced, one for each church tone, four remain, on the first four tones.

Each suite contains seven short pieces, intended to alternate with the sung verses of the Magnificat. All open with a plein jeu, except the suite in the second tone, which begins with a prélude, and all close with a petit plein jeu. Between the two come the forms of the French organ: trio, duo, basse de trompette, récit and dialogue in the first suite; tierce en taille and trio de flûtes in the second; quatuor, dialogue de voix humaine and grand jeu in the third; cromorne en taille and basse de cromorne in the fourth. The German article sees in them the study of Marchand’s style and that of the older Parisian masters. Michel Rusquet, on Musicologie.org, quotes Brigitte François-Sappey on their concision: none of these versets lasts more than three minutes.

Alexandre Guilmant republished them in 1906 in the seventh volume of the Archives des maîtres de l’orgue, from the manuscripts of the Royal Library in Berlin and those of the Thulemeyer collection in the Bibliothèque Amélie; Pirro wrote the preface. All four suites are in the site’s repertoire.

The French article mentions a mass for five voices, now lost; the German article dates it to around 1707. Guilain’s name then reappears only in 1739, on the title of Pièces de clavecin d’un goût nouveau engraved by De Gland. The only known copy is in the British Library. They are twenty-four very short pieces (twenty-six according to the English article) which set popular songs and airs for beginners, such as Joconde, Mamy Margot or the Bransle de Metz, in place of the usual dances of the suite.

Brigitte François-Sappey, quoted on Musicologie.org, recalls that the author of the organ book and that of the harpsichord book are usually taken to be one and the same musician, although the former is considered far superior to the latter. This collection is the last trace of Guilain: he is presumed to have died after 1739.