Abstract: The formation of European concertmaster schools began sequentially – in Germany (from the 15th century) and Italy (from the 16th century). In these two schools, the basic principles of the future profession of the pianist-concertmaster were crystallized. They significantly influenced the development of other national schools, primarily the French one. The object of research is concertmaster artistry. The subject of the article is the French concertmaster school. The aim of the article is to reveal the process of forming the performance characteristics of the French concertmaster school. The presented work details the influence of the artistry of Italian maestro al cembalo and German Korrepetitor on the French concertmaster culture. It traces the complex path of the French concertmaster school in acquiring national identity – from reverence for the German and Italian traditions to achieving an independent status and, furthermore, the formation of a reverse process – influencing the specifics of German Korrepetitor in the field of ballet. The author chose the following methods: textual analysis, comparative-analytical, and a complex of approaches for performing analysis of musical works. The article attempts for the first time to reconstruct the initial period of the formation and development of the French concertmaster school. The author proposes clarifications on the types of accompaniment used (primarily, ad libitum and obligato) in the compositions for joint music-making by French composers of the Baroque era, pointing to objectively existing disagreements on this issue. Based on the analysis of archival documents, new data about the activities of French maestro al cembalo and Korrepetitors are introduced into musicological discourse. Archival data also allow us to conclude that J.-B. Lully was proficient in keyboard instruments. The analysis of methodological literature leads us to conclude that there existed an elaborate system of approaches among practicing musicians in French musical culture of the 17th-18th centuries regarding the collaborative performance process involving the clavier, and there were intensive searches in the field of teaching children the art of accompaniment. The conducted research allows us to conclude about the eclecticism of the process of formation and development of the French concertmaster school, which absorbed the best traditions of the Italian and German schools in the 17th-18th centuries and achieved its own style by the beginning of the 19th century.

Keywords: treatise, obligato, ad libitum, corrépétiteur, maestro al cembalo, France, concertmaster school, keyboard, performance, music pedagogy