by Enrico Coden
We all know the feeling. You open a set of beautiful French suites, whether by De La Barre, Hotteterre, or Philidor; you start with a prelude or your favourite dance; but, after just a few bars, you ask yourself: “What note value should I play inégal here, actually?”
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To make it easier to find a plausible answer, I have prepared this table summarising Jacques Martin Hotteterre’s indications on inégalité in L’Art de Preluder Sur la Flûte traversiere, Sur la Flûte a bec, Sur le Haubois, et autres Instrumens de Deßus Op. 7 (Paris: L’Auteur and Foucault, 1719), pp. 57–61. Of course, this is not a complete overview of the use of inégalité in early 18th-century France: many historical sources discuss the subject and should be consulted to answer the question with more awareness. However, Hotteterre’s L'Art de Preluder seemed to be a good starting point because of its systematic approach, which could be applicabile to the music of many of his contemporaries.
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Playing inégal means playing equally notated notes with unequal durations, as described in treatises from the 16th to 19th centuries: the “good” notes (on strong beats) are lengthened, the others shortened. |
Hotteterre’s instructions on inégalité refer to the time signatures, which are listed below in the same order as in the book.
For each time signature, Hotteterre gives a brief description, including the most appropriate forms and/or dances (which are summarised in the second column, with the emphasis on instrumental music), as well as valuable indications of the performance tempo and examples from the most popular repertoire of the time. It is worth noting that several examples in L’Art de Preluder come from the works of Arcangelo Corelli, proving that inégalité was not — as the stereotype might suggest — a purely French fashion.
The section Inégalité on note types schematically outlines Hotteterre’s instructions for the execution of quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes, according to the following legend:
The last section presents examples, with their incipit, for each case. They are aimed at practising and memorising the respective performance instructions and consist of individual movements from Hotteterre’s works for the flute:
I am grateful to Gaspar Polo Baader for revising the table and for his valuable reflections on L’Art de Preluder, including the possible implicit inégalité in C/ and 3, and to Claire Genewein for pointing out the relevance of the tempo indications and of the examples with Corelli’s music.
To explore Hotteterre's instructions click on the time signatures below.
For each time signature, Hotteterre gives a brief description, including the most appropriate forms and/or dances (which are summarised in the second column, with the emphasis on instrumental music), as well as valuable indications of the performance tempo and examples from the most popular repertoire of the time. It is worth noting that several examples in L’Art de Preluder come from the works of Arcangelo Corelli, proving that inégalité was not — as the stereotype might suggest — a purely French fashion.
The section Inégalité on note types schematically outlines Hotteterre’s instructions for the execution of quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes, according to the following legend:
- - (no explicit information provided)
- equal (“égal“)
- inégal (or dotted or“pointée“)
- Brackets [ ]: editorial suggestion
The last section presents examples, with their incipit, for each case. They are aimed at practising and memorising the respective performance instructions and consist of individual movements from Hotteterre’s works for the flute:
- Livre de Pièces pour la Flûte-traversiere et autres Instruments, avec la Baße Op. 2, 2nd edition (Paris: L’Auteur and Foucault, 1715)
- Sonates en Trio pour les Flûtes traversieres, Flûtes a bec, Violons, Hautbois, &c. Op. 3 (Paris: L’Auteur and Foucault, 1712)
- Deuxiéme Livre de Pièces pour la Flûte-traversière et autres Instruments, avec la Basse Op. 5 (Paris: L’Auteur and Foucault, 1715)
- Deuxiéme Suitte de Pieces à deux Dessus pour les Flûtes-traversieres, Flûtes-a-bec, Violes, &c. Op. 6 (Paris: L’Auteur and Foucault, 1717)
I am grateful to Gaspar Polo Baader for revising the table and for his valuable reflections on L’Art de Preluder, including the possible implicit inégalité in C/ and 3, and to Claire Genewein for pointing out the relevance of the tempo indications and of the examples with Corelli’s music.
To explore Hotteterre's instructions click on the time signatures below.
| Description | Appropriate for Prelude, first movements of sonatas, Allemande, Adagio, Fugue, Air de Ballet, etc. |
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| Inégalité on note type |  |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | equal | inégal | ||
| Example | op.2 Suite II | |||
| Incipit |  |
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| Description | Used in Italian music for Tempo di Gavotta, Tempo di Capella, and Tempo alla breve. In his operas, Lully used it as an alternative of the time signature ‘2’. |
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| Inégalité on note type | |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | equal, “in the regular way, unless the composer puts dots” | [Possibly inégal in a slow tempo] | ||
| Example | op.2 Suite II | |||
| Incipit |  |
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| Description | Appropriate for Marche, Bourée, Gavotte, Rigaudon, Branle, Cotillion, etc. |
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| Inégalité on note type | |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | inégal | - | ||
| Example | op.1 Suite II | |||
| Incipit |  |
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| Description | Appropriate for Grave, Courante, etc. |
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| Inégalité on note type | |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| inégal | - | - | ||
| Example | op.5 Suite IV | |||
| Incipit |  |
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and
| Description | Appropriate for Passacaille, Chaconne, Sarabande, Air de Ballet, Menuet, etc. |
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| Inégalité on note type | |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | inégal, “almost always” | - | ||
| Example | op.2 Suite IV | |||
| Incipit |  |
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| Description | Eighth notes move skipwise and are mixed with sixteenth notes. |
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| Inégalité on note type | |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | equal | [Possibily inégal in a slow tempo] | ||
| Example | L’Art de Preluder, p. 58 | |||
| Incipit |  |
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| Description | In Italian music and in the French Courante à l’Italienne (i.e. fast). |
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| Inégalité on note type | |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | ||
| Example | op.2 Suite III | |||
| Incipit |  |
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| Description | Italian-style Sarabande bass line in eight notes. |
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| Inégalité on note type | |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | equal | - | |||
| Example | op.2 Suite II | ||||
| Incipit |  |
First practice this bass line as a standard Italian bass (i.e. with equal eighth notes); then appreciate the peculiarity of Hotteterre’s exceptional indication for this movement and play the eighth notes “unequal and slurred”. | |||
| Description | Appropriate for Canarie, Passepieds, etc. |
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| Inégalité on note type | |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | equal | inégal | ||
| Example | op.3 Suite V | |||
| Incipit |  |
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| Description | Especially appropriate for the Gigue. |
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| Inégalité on note type | |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | equal | inégal | ||
| Example | op.5 Suite II | |||
| Incipit |  |
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| Description | Appropriate for Loure, Gigue, Forlane, Air de Ballet, etc. Rarely in Italian music. |
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| Inégalité on note type | |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | inégal | - | ||
| Example | op.5 Suite II | |||
| Incipit |  |
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| Description | Especially appropriate for the Gigue. |
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| Inégalité on note type | |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | equal | inégal | ||
| Example | op.2 Suite II | |||
| Incipit |  |
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| Description | Especially appropriate for the Gigue. |
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| Inégalité on note type | |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | equal | inégal | |||
| Example | op.2 Suite III | ||||
| Incipit |  |
Add your own ornamentation with some unequal sixteenth notes. | |||
| Description | Fast and shortly articulated Airs. |
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| Inégalité on note type | |
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| - | equal,“ordinarily” | inégal | |||
| Example | op.3 Suite VI | ||||
| Incipit |  |
Experiment by playing the eighth notes both equal (as the norm) and unequal (as the exception). | |||
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Enrico Coden is a flute player, researcher, and teacher specialising in historically informed performance practice. He has performed with ensembles such as Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble (T. Hengelbrock), Il Gusto Barocco (Jörg Halubek), and Orchestra Frau Musika (Andrea Marcon).
He his a doctoral candidate and university assistant at Anton Bruckner University in Linz; his research focuses on Italian flute music of the 18th and 19th centuries. He teaches in Linz, Bad Ischl, and Mondsee, Austria. |
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