François Couperin

François Couperin (10 November 1668, Paris – 11 September 1733, Paris) was a French Baroque composer, organist, and harpsichordist. The most illustrious member of the celebrated Couperin musical dynasty, which originated in Chaumes-en-Brie, he was widely known in his own time as “Couperin the Great” (“Couperin le Grand”), a name that distinguished him from the many other musicians in his family.

Born on rue du Monceau Saint-Gervais in Paris and baptized at the church of Saint-Gervais on 12 November 1668, he was raised in an environment that destined him almost naturally for music. He began studying under his father, Charles Couperin, organist of Saint-Gervais and a harpsichord teacher to Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans, and is said to have learned music even before he could read or write. After his father’s early death, the family secured for him the succession to the Saint-Gervais organ loft, the post being held in trust until he was old enough to assume it. He later refined his training with Jacques Thomelin, organist of Saint-Jacques la Boucherie and one of the organists of the Chapelle Royale.

After taking over the post of organist at Saint-Gervais, Couperin rose to royal service, probably through the support of Michel-Richard de Lalande and Buterne. Eight years later, recognition of his exceptional abilities brought him an appointment as one of the four organists of the Chapelle Royale, serving by quarter, and from 1703 he also served at court as harpsichordist. In 1693–1695, together with other musicians of the royal chapel, he pursued legal action against the Menestrandise to secure the right to teach music without joining that old corporation. Fragile in health and little drawn to society, he led a discreet but honorable career as a musician and highly sought-after teacher. Toward the end of his life he gradually relinquished his various posts; in 1730 he retired, passing his position to his daughter, Marguerite-Antoinette.

His family remained closely bound to music. One daughter, Marie-Madeleine (1690–1742), became a nun and organist at the abbey of Maubuisson, while Marguerite-Antoinette (1705–1778) became harpsichordist of the Chambre du Roi. He was buried in the cemetery of Saint-Joseph in Paris; his remains were later transferred to the Paris catacombs.

Couperin’s musical style was formed chiefly within the traditions of the French harpsichord school and came to represent a summit of French Baroque keyboard art. Alongside Jean-Philippe Rameau, he is regarded as one of the great French masters of the harpsichord in the 18th century. His principal output was written for harpsichord and comprises more than 250 pieces of varied character, often given attractive programmatic titles such as “The Mysterious Barricades” (Les barricades mystérieuses), “The Reeds,” “The Reapers,” “The Little Windmills,” “The Warbler’s Complaints,” “The Butterflies,” as well as pieces such as “The Grape-Gatherers,” “The Spanish Woman,” “The Coquette,” “Desire,” and “Fidelity.” These works, often salon pieces in character and largely stylizations of popular secular dances such as allemande, courante, sarabande, gavotte, and gigue, are notable for their nuanced treatment of distinctive expressive types, a quality often associated with Rococo aesthetics.

He grouped individual pieces into “orders” (ordres), akin to suites, and grouped suites into printed “books” (livres). Four such books were published in 1713, 1717, 1722, and 1730, containing a total of 27 suites. In the earlier orders the connection with the traditional dance suite still remains, though treated freely and often on an expanded scale; from the second book onward, explicit references to dance types largely disappear, giving way to an increasingly personal language marked by discreet poetry, elegiac atmosphere, and a technique never dominated by mere virtuosity or effect. During his lifetime these harpsichord works gained enormous fame not only in France but also abroad. Compared with his predecessors, Couperin made broader use of the harpsichord’s resources, employing the full range of the instrument more freely, exploiting the two manuals of the larger harpsichord in pieces marked croisee with hand-crossing, elaborating keyboard texture, enlivening the part-writing within a predominantly homophonic style, strengthening internal dynamic movement, and paying particular attention to ornamentation.

Couperin also devoted considerable attention to chamber ensemble music. Among his works for instrumental ensemble are the “Royal Concerts” (Les concerts royaux, 1714; Nos. 1–4), the “New Concerts, or The Reunited Tastes” (Nouveaux concerts ou les goûts réunis, 1724; Nos. 5–14), “The Apotheosis of Lully” (1725), and “The Parnassus, or The Apotheosis of Corelli” (1724). In the prefaces to the concert collections he explained that they had been written for intimate chamber performances at court, where he himself played the harpsichord; the ensemble could include violin, flute, oboe, bass viol, and bassoon. Though scored for chamber forces, these concerts are close in spirit to his harpsichord pieces, and in structure they likewise resemble suites whose movements often bear programmatic titles. His chamber output also includes trio sonatas from about 1690, the collection Les Nations (1726), and Pièces de violes (1728), all reflecting his wish to reconcile French and Italian tastes.

He also composed church music, including two organ masses and three Leçons de ténèbres. His vocal output was relatively small, and the best known of these works are the Trois Leçons de ténèbres of 1715, settings for one and two voices associated with Holy Week services. Although he spent many years at the organs of Saint-Gervais and the Chapelle Royale, the two masses of 1690 are his only surviving organ works; despite being youthful compositions, they are considered among the high points of the classical French organ repertory.

Couperin was also the author of the influential tutorial L'art de toucher le clavecin (“The Art of Playing the Harpsichord”, 1716; second edition 1717). It includes nine of his pieces, eight preludes and one allemande; although the preludes are fully notated in meter, he explained in the afterword that the barlines were added for pedagogical reasons and that they should be performed freely, in the manner of unmeasured preludes. In this treatise he summed up his practical experience as a performer and teacher, and it remains a precious source for the teaching and performance of the harpsichord in the 18th century.

Connections

This figure has 4 connections in the Music Lineage catalog.