Claude Bénigne Balbastre earned fame in 18th century Paris as virtuoso on the harpsichord and organ as well as composer. He was organist at Saint-Roch (1756), Notre-Dame (1760), Chapelle royale, organist to the brother of the king (the future Louis XVIII) and harpsichordist to the Duke of Chartres and Marie-Antoinette. Balbastre was also the titular organist to the royal abbey Panthémont, where he gave lessons to young students from France’s richest and most powerful families, the names of which echo in the titles which he gave to many of his compositions for harpsichord, as in the first volume of his Pièces de clavecin.

Their refined and elegant style provide evidence of his originality while also pointing to his faithfulness to the tradition of François Couperin. Ursula Duetschler performs these works on an 18th century French harpsichord (Couchet-Blanchet-Taskin) from the collection of Kenneth Gilbert in the Chartres Museum.