# Francois Couperin



## Sid James

*FRANCOIS COUPERIN *
(1668 - 1733)

François Couperin, known as le grand to distinguish him from an uncle of the same name, was the most distinguished of a numerous family of French musicians, officially succeeding his uncle and father as organist of the Paris church of St. Gervais when he was eighteen. He enjoyed royal patronage under Louis XIV and in 1693 was appointed royal organist and belatedly royal harpsichordist. As a keyboard-player and composer he was pre-eminent in France at the height of his career. He died in Paris in 1733.

(from Naxos website - http://www.naxos.com/person/Francois_Couperin/27135.htm)

I just heard the music of Couperin for the first time yesterday. His two organ masses, one "for the parishes," the other "for the convents," played by New Zealand organist Gillian Weir (recorded in the 1970's & now on Decca Eloquence). The first mass is more dance-like and animated, the second somewhat more laid back. Apparently he used the plainchant in the first, but the second has characteristics of a freer fantasia form. One can certainly pick this up quite easily, there's a big difference between the two. But the thing I was most surprised by is the abrupt ending of each of these two works. Perhaps the choral accompaniment, which is omitted on this recording (and most others?), would have made up the actual ending. In any case, these works are effective on their own as virtuostic organ pieces. Apparently, the pedals are hardly used, most of it is played on the keyboards.

What do people think of this important French Baroque composer?


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## HarpsichordConcerto

Not a bad French composer. I have all of his harpsichord music _Pièces de clavecin_ books 1 to 4 (1713, 1717, 1722, 1730). They are more subtle without the technical virtuosity demanded by the Italian harpsichord styles of his fellow Europeans outside of France.


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## StlukesguildOhio

I'll second HC. I've been making a concerted effort recently to explore the Baroque in greater depth and I have been most impressed with the French (who I have long underestimated) and the German composers. I quite like this disc:










At the same time, I must say that I have not come across enough of anything to suggest that he is a composer on par with Lully or Rameau when it comes to orchestral, choral, or operatic compositions... but his keyboard work is quite something else altogether. I find it quite entrancing... although I'll admit that I generally prefer performances on piano to the harpsichord.

If I was to consider Couperin on Harpsichord, who would you recommend, HC?


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## HarpsichordConcerto

StlukesguildOhio said:


> If I was to consider Couperin on Harpsichord, who would you recommend, HC?


You could try Laurence Cummings on the Naxos label. Nicely played. Cheap price as usual. "Low risk strategy" if you are a little averse to the harpsichord.


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## Weston

I enjoy Couperin, but even when I was at the height of my baroque binge some years ago I felt the French composers, with harpsichord works in particular, overdo the ornamentation for my tastes. Lully, Marais, Forqueray, Leclair, all seem to share this trait -- at least that is how they are most often interpreted. That doesn't stop me from listening. I just usually prefer the German and Italian baroque to the French. Rameau is the exception.

Couperin evidently inspired Ravel, but I haven't quite heard the connection between _Le Tombeau de Couperin_, a piece I occasionally enjoy, and Couperin's music or the baroque keyboard suite in general.


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## hocket

I enjoy Couperin and his music seems lush and delightful to me, both sensual and sensitive. I imagine it must have been perfect for Versailles. I found the recording of Les Concerts Royeaux that's pictured earlier unusual and interesting but I'd suggest that Les Nations recorded by Savall's Hesperion XX might be a better way into his music:






Les Concerts Royeaux by contrast seem to me to take his love for the eclectic and unusual to an extreme. The Apotheoses are also well worth checking out, and I have an excellent recording by London Baroque which seems a bit more muscular than the excerpts from Savall's effort that I found on YouTube. However, Savall's versions of his Pieces de Violes most definitely did float my boat. His Lecons Tenebres are also, I hope you'll agree, extremely beautiful:






I have a different recording to this one, though this certainly seems lovely. Mine is by William Christie's Les Arts Florissants which I'm happy to recommend. Unlike the clip it features a soprano rather than a counter-tenor in this piece.

FWIW I also enjoy French baroque harpsichord. Both Francois and Louis Couperin, Rameau, D'Anglebert and Chambonnieres. All good stuff.


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## starthrower

Just listened to two short pieces for the first time including Les baricades misterieuses on a very warm sounding instrument played by Igor Kipnis. A lovely melody. I must hear some more!


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## Mandryka

starthrower said:


> Just listened to two short pieces for the first time including Les baricades misterieuses on a very warm sounding instrument played by Igor Kipnis. A lovely melody. I must hear some more!


Then I would like to suggest you get hold of one Leonhardt's recordings of the Preludes from L'art de toucher le clavecin and Blandine Verlet's recent CD. Skip Sempé is also an outstanding Couperin player. You could try his record of the viole sonatas and his solo CD. Also Pierre Hantaï's record of Solo keyboard music.

If you're interested in the vocal music let me know, I've heard some very exciting records of the Leçons de ténèbres, and one or two good ones of Les apthéoses.

Maybe surprisingly, F Couperin has done OK on modern piano, with some good attempts by Sokolov and Madeleine de Valmalète.


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## shangoyal

Just discovered his music and I am in rapture. 

Happy birthday in advance to him...


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## Selby

Any recommendations for a recording of the organ masses?

I see releases from James Tibbles, Edward Higginbottom, and Gillian Weir that are affordable and attractive.

Thoughts?


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## Cheyenne

Jordi Savall and Les Concert des Nations deliver with his music, as always! Very fine performances.


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## shangoyal

One of his most lovely harpsichord pieces:


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## Gaspard de la Nuit

Generally I would say Couperin is the baroque composer who speaks the most to me. This is the one that got me hooked, can't really find it anywhere anymore, it's pretty old. A lot of his beauty in the harpsichord pieces is lent by the really delicate ornaments, to me it sounds like a different approach than say Bach, Handel, and so on.


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## Mandryka

Selby said:


> Any recommendations for a recording of the organ masses?


Jean-Charles Ablitzer/Ensemble Organum/Peres.


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## Mandryka

Gaspard de la Nuit said:


> Generally I would say Couperin is the baroque composer who speaks the most to me. This is the one that got me hooked, can't really find it anywhere anymore, it's pretty old. A lot of his beauty in the harpsichord pieces is lent by the really delicate ornaments, to me it sounds like a different approach than say Bach, Handel, and so on.


Be sure to try his suites for viols too, there's an excellent recording with your favourite, Skip Sempé, in fact.

And you might follow the Sempé lead and explore his Chambonnières, Rameau and (above all) Louis Couperin.


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## leroy

His harpsichord pieces do seem to have a certain lightness about them. This is the one I first heard


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## Gaspard de la Nuit

Mandryka said:


> Be sure to try his suites for viols too, there's an excellent recording with your favourite, Skip Sempé, in fact.
> 
> And you might follow the Sempé lead and explore his Chambonnières, Rameau and (above all) Louis Couperin.


Thanks, I actually just listened to a measureless harpsichord piece by Louis.


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## Gaspard de la Nuit

Does anyone have any favorite Couperin pieces? To me there are a few of his pieces that stand out as being more delicate and elegant than anything else in the baroque, the l'espagnolete from the C minor suite (those ornaments just never get old) and the rondeau from the B minor, to name some. Some of his pieces in the Bb major stand out as well, such potency.


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## Mandryka

Gaspard de la Nuit said:


> Does anyone have any favorite Couperin pieces? To me there are a few of his pieces that stand out as being more delicate and elegant than anything else in the baroque, the l'espagnolete from the C minor suite (those ornaments just never get old) and the rondeau from the B minor, to name some. Some of his pieces in the Bb major stand out as well, such potency.


Messe des paroisses, Leçons de tenèbres, viol suites, Apthéoses, the two harpsichord transcription of les Nations. I was listening to the 9eme ordre a couple of days ago and I was struck by how complicated the polyphony is.


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## millionrainbows

*Les Baricades Misterieuses*

This is the piece that hooked me, on a Columbia LP by Anthony Newman. The Couperin (not the Bach) is available on this NPR CD. If you have not heard this, you *must* get it!

The original LP









The CD:


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## Mandryka

millionrainbows said:


> *Les Baricades Misterieuses*
> 
> This is the piece that hooked me, on a Columbia LP by Anthony Newman. The Couperin (not the Bach) is available on this NPR CD. If you have not heard this, you *must* get it!
> 
> The original LP
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The CD:


Dreadful, atrocious, vulgar, tawdry, shallow, those pointless registration changes are particularly annoying. I can imagine a trained monkey dancing to it, it's so stiff.

Fcoup's about the over-refined _art de vivre _of the sun king's court.


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## Mandryka

Today I was listening to the 20th order, and just randomly hopping from one performance to another. Anyway I was really impressed by what Kenneth Gilbert does with it, especially towards the end in the pieces La fine Madelon/La douce Janneton. The recording quality isn't that great, and Gilbert has never appealed to me much in Coup before, so I was quite surprised by how moved I was by how he plays this. 

Rousset is also outstanding in it - Rousset was Gilbert's pupil.


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## Bulldog

Mandryka said:


> Dreadful, atrocious, vulgar, tawdry, shallow, those pointless registration changes are particularly annoying. I can imagine a trained monkey dancing to it, it's so stiff.


My take on Newman's performance is a little different. First, the music in question has a great deal of repetition and easily becomes boring. Newman's registration changes may have been his way of spicing it up and offering some diversity of sound.

Anyways, I listened to a few other versions and don't find Newman lacking at all. Being honest, I don't consider the piece to be very good.


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## regenmusic

It's amazing how many different ways "les barricades mystérieuses" is played on YouTube. I think it should
have a certain "questioning" in the phrasing, like the name implies, and a certain joyful exploration in some passages.
And, it shouldn't be played too slow or too fast.


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## regenmusic

This one by Scott Ross isn't the best I've heard, but it's better than many. 
He's just not quite "singing" enough in his notes.


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## Mandryka

regenmusic said:


> It's amazing how many different ways "les barricades mystérieuses" is played on YouTube. I think it should
> have a certain "questioning" in the phrasing, like the name implies, and a certain joyful exploration in some passages.
> And, it shouldn't be played too slow or too fast.


It's a bit unclear what these barricades were, you know that there's a piece by Chambonnieres called Les Barricades also? I'd like to hear a performance suggestive of Paris May 1968 myself.

I'm not so keen on most of the early Couperin keyboard pieces -- I like Book 4 and some of Book 3 most. Oh and I like the preludes, but I'm a sucker for baroque French preludes.


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## Mandryka

D


Bulldog said:


> My take on Newman's performance is a little different. First, the music in question has a great deal of repetition and easily becomes boring. Newman's registration changes may have been his way of spicing it up and offering some diversity of sound.


My guess was that he wanted to make the music sound antiphonal.


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## millionrainbows

regenmusic said:


> It's amazing how many different ways "les barricades mystérieuses" is played on YouTube. I think it should
> have a certain "questioning" in the phrasing, like the name implies, and a certain joyful exploration in some passages.
> And, it shouldn't be played too slow or too fast.


I think he was imitating the finger-picking of a string instrument, like a lute or vihuella.


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## Vaneyes

Mandryka said:


> ....Maybe surprisingly, *F Couperin has done OK on modern piano*, with some good attempts by Sokolov and Madeleine de Valmalète.


Very good performances by Marcelle Meyer, Alexandre Tharaud.


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## millionrainbows

Gaspard de la Nuit said:


> Generally I would say Couperin is the baroque composer who speaks the most to me. This is the one that got me hooked, can't really find it anywhere anymore, it's pretty old. A lot of his beauty in the harpsichord pieces is lent by the really delicate ornaments, to me it sounds like a different approach than say Bach, Handel, and so on.


I found this one easily on Amazon for $6.99. I think I'll put it on my wish list. I gave the NPR disc to a monkey who wandered by and seemed interested in engaging in our mutual likes. A very nice primate, I must say.


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## Mandryka

millionrainbows said:


> I found this one easily on Amazon for $6.99. I think I'll put it on my wish list. I gave the NPR disc to a monkey who wandered by and seemed interested in engaging in our mutual likes. A very nice primate, I must say.


It is an excellent recording, beautifully recorded, attractive and appropriate instrument. One of the very best FCOUPs if you like the Sempé's style, which always reminds me of static electricity and burrs of metal.


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## millionrainbows

Mandryka said:


> It is an excellent recording, beautifully recorded, attractive and appropriate instrument. One of the very best FCOUPs if you like the Sempé's style, which always reminds me of static electricity and burrs of metal.


Oh, is that so? I was planning to use it as a coaster, and I like the cover art.


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## millionrainbows

Mandryka said:


> It's a bit unclear what these barricades were, you know that there's a piece by Chambonnieres called Les Barricades also? I'd like to hear a performance suggestive of Paris May 1968 myself.


I think it has sexual connotations, like that Sheena Easton song, "Sugar Walls."


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## Gaspard de la Nuit

I heard that the 'barricades' meant women's eyelashes or something, but then I also heard that that is totally ridiculous and no one has any clue what they are.

Couperin's keyboard music continues to be so striking to my ears, some of it is the most exquisite to come out of the baroque.


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## regenmusic

leroy said:


> His harpsichord pieces do seem to have a certain lightness about them. This is the one I first heard


I like this one better than the Scott Ross one I posted.
It's the Les baricades misterieuses by Igor Kipnis.


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## Gaspard de la Nuit

Probably not my favorite recording but listen to how different Couperin's writing is from others, this one has a kind of rennaissance feel


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## Gaspard de la Nuit

One thing additionally that I've noticed about Couperin, is that for someone who isn't really that much performed or discussed, he gets a lot of attention from real composers:

There's Le Tombeau de Couperin, which, while not actually specifically memorializing Couperin, is clearly inflected with his heavily ornamented style.

Strauss wrote a Dance Suite after Couperin.

Thomas Ades' "3 Studies from Couperin".

Brahms apparently saw fit to edit a lot of his keyboard output and performed his music frequently.

Also, according to Wikipedia, his daughter was the first female court musician to the King of France.


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## shangoyal

Fantastic composer. He speaks directly to my heart - his music is therapeutic and like a sanctuary I can enter.


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