Jeu de Paume

Pipa and Guitar

Jeu de Paume for pipa and guitar was written for pipa virtuoso Wu Man and Eliot Fisk in 2008, specifically for Boston GuitarFest III, “West Meets East ‘Occidente Y Oriente.’” The Boston GuitarFest was a collaboration of the New England Conservatory and Northeastern University, with world renowned guitarist Eliot Fisk serving as Artistic Director, and Anthony De Ritis as the Administrative Director.

In order to highlight the theme of “West Meets East,” Fisk and De Ritis invited Wu Man to present a concert of music for pipa; Fisk’s goal was to offer various innovative perspectives on plucked instruments that might stimulate future guitar music. (American Peter Row, a virtuoso on the Indian sitar, also presented a concert at the 2008 festival).

Jeu de Paume for pipa and guitar was an arrangement of an earlier version of Jeu de Paume for harp and guitar, premiered at the Festival of Music in Sancerre, France (August 13, 2006) featuring Danielle Riegel (harp) and Robert Ward (guitar). In turn, both versions of Jeu de Paume are derived from De Ritis’s earlier work Explorations (1991) for chamber ensemble and two voices without text, premiered at the Salle du Jeu de Paume, Château de Fontainebleau, France, on August 17, 1991 (hence, the title); De Ritis was a student at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, studying with Philippe Manoury and Tristan Murail. “Jeu de paume” translates as “game of palms,” which is a ball-and-court game that originated in France in the 17th Century, and is a precursor to modern tennis.

Jeu de Paume for pipa and guitar was premiered by Wu Man (pipa) and Eliot Fisk (guitar) on June 11, 2008 at Williams Hall, New England Conservatory.

Jeu de Paume for pipa and guitar is published in Selected Works for Pipa Composed by Anthony Paul De Ritis, Central Conservatory of Music Press, Beijing, (October 2016).

Boston GuitarFest 2008 [postcard]

Boston GuitarFest 2008 [program booklet]