Gavotte and Six Doubles • Solo Guitar • Jean-Philippe Rameau • Arranged by Ben Lougheed
Jean-Philippe Rameau’s “Gavotte and Six Doubles” is a short baroque keyboard work, arranged here by guitarist Ben Lougheed, that is built on a recurring gavotte melody, followed by six progressively varied “doubles” (i.e., ornamental variations in a denser, more elaborate texture).
Theme
The main theme of this piece, the "Gavotte", is a fairly straightforward Baroque theme. However, unlike most gavottes, it begins on the downbeat; it still maintains the traditional feel of a gavotte, with the upbeats leading into a new measure. While most of the variations have fairly narrow tempo ranges, the theme can work at almost any tempo. It can be played at around 40 bpm as a slow introduction, à la the Bach Goldberg Variations; closer to 80 bpm to more closely align with the variations' tempi and take the "double" in the title more literally; or anything in between.
The ornaments are derived from hours of listening to harpsichord recordings by musicians such as Scott Ross and Trevor Pinnock to ensure they are as authentic as possible.
While I recorded this piece in E minor, I now play it with a capo on the 2nd fret, bringing it to F-sharp minor. This change helps achieve the harpsichord's bright timbre. You could put the capo even higher, but I found that anything beyond the 2nd fret made it quite difficult to play the high notes, and the resulting sound was not much different from the 2nd fret.
1st Double
I like to start this off under tempo, as if entering from the shadows; this also makes the shift into measure 27 a bit easier. The tempo of this double is often played around 95-100 by keyboard players, but I found it best to stay around 75-80 and use more rubato to contrast the next double.
2nd Double
This variation is quicker, usually between 90 and 100 bpm, than the first and with more driving energy. While the bass line is a defining feature of this double, keeping the melody clear and connected above it is critical. This bass line can be played solely by the thumb or by alternating the thumb and index finger. It may be possible to use the thumb and middle finger, but that will make some of the chords much more difficult.
Measure 80 has been slightly altered from the original score to make it more playable at a fast tempo, and the difference in the middle voice is virtually indistinguishable in performance.
Harpsichord recordings include many ornaments in the B section of this double, similar to the theme, but I choose to exclude them since getting the notes is hard enough at this tempo.
3rd Double
Performers have many options when it comes to the tempo of this variation. It can be played quite slowly (˜55 bpm) with lots of rubato to provide contrast with the doubles around it, or played closer to the other variations (˜90 bpm) to make them feel more cohesive
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I found that the best method for creating a loud sound for the climax in measure 104 is to do a sweep with the M finger across the top 2 strings while resting the thumb on the 3rd string.
4th Double
This double begins the push towards the climactic ending of the piece, so the tempo increases to between 95 and 110 bpm. Much of the double also includes agogic accents on beat 1, making those longer and heavier.
In the harpsichord score of this double, Rameau indicates that the performer uses the batterie technique, playing the same pitch on two different keyboards of the two-manual harpsichord. Doing this keeps the keys from jamming and creates a percussive drive that defines the batterie style. The best way to recreate this on the guitar would be to play the notes on 2 different strings. While possible in some places, I could not find good fingerings to do this consistently in this key. Instead, I found that playing the repeated notes "P-I" in the right hand created a sound similar to the batterie effect and also provided the speed and energy needed for this double, moving the music towards the next downbeat and its agogic accent.
There are a handful of instances (measures 130, 131, 138, and 139) where there are 2 groups of 3rds in a row. To execute these, I suggest playing the first group with a thumb sweep and using I&M to play the 2nd; however, they can be played with P&I together and M&A on the offbeat.
5th Double
This double is often played ever-so-slightly slower than the previous one, still staying around 90-110 bpm. The gavotte melody is hidden in this double more than any other, so make sure to bring out the middle voice so it can be heard. You can also treat the highest note in each measure as its own voice, creating the effect of multiple instruments.
The 2nd ending is how I embellish the final chord (inspired by harpsichord recordings), but any baroque ornamentation can work.
6th Double
This double is played at a similar tempo to the previous 2 doubles, maybe a bit faster to create a virtuosic ending (95-115 bpm). The gavotte melody returns very clearly in the upper voice. Keep the bass line as light as possible, like the 2nd double, so that the melody can be heard and the tempo can be as fast as possible.
The octaves at the end are slightly adjusted from the original to fit the guitar; make sure to bring out the movement of the middle voice and the parallel octaves. Like the 5th double, the final chord should be ornamented as much as possible, really showing off.
There are many recordings of this piece that end with a da capo of the original theme, similar to the Bach Goldberg variations; others do not include it. My recording includes a slow da capo; however, when I perform this live, I've found that ending with the sixth double works better, since the audience really feeds off the energy of the final 3 doubles.
