A new edition of Louis-Claude Daquin’sNouveau livre de Noëls(1757)

Full background notes with an examination of aspects of performance practice

Music arranged for easy page turning

Full critical commentary

Louis-Claude Daquin’s remarkable keyboard style was the wonder of Paris, if not beyond, with accounts of his improvisation filling popular press articles and the pages of books. He published only two books in a life that spanned nearly eighty years, a collection of harpsichord suites (1735) and the twelve noëls contained in this volume.

In the first edition for nearly 70 years, Daquin’s music has been given a much-needed reworking in this Lyrebird publication. In the preface, editor Jon Baxendale examines the achievements of Daquin, discusses the music, its role, registration and performance. While keeping to Lyrebird’s pioneering practices of retaining as many visual aspects of the original imprint as possible, this new publication has been organised to facilitate page turns without interrupting the flow of a performance.