Concerts à deux violes esgales [Suites for Two Viols]

• One of Sainte-Colombe’s major works is his collection of 67 concerts, or suites, for two viols of equal range (“à deux violes esgales”).¹
• This collection was rediscovered in 1960, when muiscologist Paul Hooreman found a fair copy manuscript of the 67 concerts among the possessions of Alfred Cortot.²
• The concerts are structured more or less as Baroque dance suites; each contains several movements, sometimes labels with dance genre names, sometimes given colorful titles.³

Concert LII: L’estourdy

“The Scatterbrain”

1. Ouverture 
2. Gigue I 
3. Gigue II 
4. Pianelle  

Concert LVI: Le Volontaire 

1. Ouverture 
2. Gigue lente 
3. Menuet I 
4. Menuet II⁴

1. Jonathan Dunford, “Sainte-Colombe [Sainte Coulombe], Jean de,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed April 29, 2022, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000024309.
2. François Filiatrault, trans. Jacques-André Houle, liner notes to Sainte-Colombe: Concerts a deux violes esgales Vol. IV, Les voix humaines, ATMA 2278, CD, 2004. 
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.