A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Couperin, François
COUPERIN, François, called, like Louis XIV, 'Le Grand,' was born at Paris 1668, and died there 1733. In 1696 he became organist of St. Gervais, in which office, from about 1650 to 1700, he was both preceded and succeeded by members of the Couperin family, who were all professional musicians. But though he is reported to have been a first-rate organist, his reputation rests upon his various suites of pieces for the 'clavecin, his excellent Méthode for that instrument, and his proficiency as an executant upon it. It is of particular interest for historians of music, as well as for professed pianists, to note the unmistakeable influence which Couperin's suites and Méthode had upon Sebastian Bach, both in his practice (mode of touch, fingering, execution of 'les agrémens'—shakes, turns, arpeggii, etc.) [Agrements] and in the shape and contents of some of his loveliest contributions to the literature of the instrument, such as his suites and partitas. The principal pieces in Bach's 'Suites françaises,' 'Suites anglaises,' 'Partitas,' and even in some of his solo works for violin and violoncello, as well as in his suites for stringed or mixed stringed and wind instruments—'Concerti Grossi,'—the allemandes, courantes, sarabandes, gavottes, gigues, etc., are frequently in close imitation of the French types of dance tunes then current, and of which Couperin's suites furnished the best specimens. Bach here and there goes to the length of copying the curious rhythmical oddities which give to some of Couperin's pieces, particularly his courantes, an air of stiffness and angularity akin to ill-carved wooden puppets:—compare Bach's second courante, in the first of the Suites anglaises, particularly the first Double thereof, or the courante in the fourth Partita in D major, with Couperin's courantes in G minor and D minor, C minor, A major, and B minor, from the first, second, third, fifth, and eighth 'ordre' of his 'Pieces de clavecin.' A distinction should be made between Couperin's type of 'courante' and the Italian 'corrente,' as it is to be found in Corelli's works—of which latter type Bach also gives many specimens. [Courante.] Couperin's suites, in a word, are a sort of refined ballet music. He has re-set the dances played by the orchestra in Lully's operas for the clavecin, and the theatrical twang noticeable in the quaint titles of many of the pieces—for instance, 'La majestueuse,' 'L'enchanteresse,' 'La prude,' 'La flatteuse,' 'La voluptueuse,' 'Les enjouments bachiques,' 'Tendresses bachiques,' 'Fureurs bachiques,' etc.—has stood in the way of a thorough musical development.
Couperin's published works are four sets of 'Pièces de clavecin'; his 'Méthode, ou l'art de toucher le clavecin, y compris huit Preludes'; 'Les gouts reunis, ou nouveaux concerts, augmentés de l'apothéose de Corelli'; 'L'apothéose de l'incomparable Lully'; 'Trios for two violins and bass'; and 'Pieces de viole.' A careful reprint of his suites for the clavecin, of which two volumes have hitherto appeared, is being edited by Brahms.[ E. D. ]