Musically, Francois Couperin
bridged two eras, the Baroque and the Classical, to which many of
his ideas look forward. He was born in Paris into a family with a
musical tradition stretching back 200 years. Their church, St
Gervais, employed a member of the Couperin family as organist for
an unbroken period of 173 years.
The ten-year-old Couperin's musical abilities were already
evident when, upon his father's death, the position of organist to
St Gervais was formally offered to him. postponed until his
eighteenth birthday. In the meantime a temporary appointment was
made, although accounts suggest that in fact Couperin frequently
played at services and was given a wage before he was 18. He
married Marie-Anne Ansault when he was 21, and the following year
secured a royal licence to publish his only two organ Masses.
Couperin was an admirer of Corelli and around 1692 composed a
set of tour sonatas; this marked the beginning of his life-long
affection for the Italian Baroque. At this time it was principally
as a keyboard player that Couperin's reputation grew. He became
one of tour organists to Louis XIV in 1693 and gamed an increasing
reputation as a harpsichord teacher, his pupils including the
King's children, the Duke of Burgundy, the Count of Toulouse, the
daughters of the Duke of Bourbon, the Dowager Princess of Conti,
and numerous others. Performing also made great demands on his
time, and there are accounts of him playing at Versailles, Sceaux,
and Fontainebleau.
In 1696 he was presented with his own coat of arms, and six
years later had the distinction of receiving the Order of
Chevalier de Latran. He became the King's harpsichordist, and when
in 1715 the King died, the composer's position remained secure as
the new court surrounding Louis XV brought a fresh influx of
distinguished pupils. Around this time Couperm composed one of his
most impressive pieces of religious music, Lecons de tenebres,
a setting of sacred texts for solo voices with sparse
accompaniment, to be performed during Holy Week.
Couperm's most important achievements, however, are the four
books of harpsichord works that he wrote between 1713 and 1730.
The individual pieces arc known as Ordres, consisting, like
suites, of a succession of dance movements. Each Ordre has
a title that might be the name of a person or object, or might be
intended to evoke a particular scene or mood. Examples are Les
ombres errantes (The roving shadows), La visionaire (The
dreamer), and Papillons (Butterflies). The works
demonstrate a great variety of techniques, and display clearly
Couperin's success at fusing elements of French and Italian music.
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