COUPERIN, FRANÇOIS

Illustrious baroque harpsichordist and composer (known as "Le Grand"); b. Paris, Nov. 10, 1668; d. Paris, Sept. 12, 1733. The greatest of a remarkable family of musicians, François had by 1690 been organist at Saint-Gervais for five years and published two organ Masses (for parish and convent use). From 1693 he was engaged at the Royal Chapel, first as harpsichord master to the royal princes (at the same time that fÉnelon was their tutor), and from 1717 as harpsichordist to the king. He received many honors, including the Lateran Order (1700). Although he composed church motets, élévations, secular songs, and occasional pieces, it is chiefly for his harpsichord and chamber music that he is remembered. The Pièces de clavecin, four books for harpsichord (1713–30), comprise 240 pieces arranged in suites. The trio sonatas and concertos, when sensitively edited and performed, may prove the equal of his harpsichord works. He produced also an important treatise on harpsichord technique, L'Art de toucher le clavecin (1717).

Bibliography: Oeuvres complètes, ed. m. cauchie, 12 v. (Paris 1933); L'Art de toucher le clavecin, Eng. tr. m. roberts (Leipzig 1933), Pièces de clavecin, ed. j. brahms and k. f. chrysander (Denkmäler der Tonkunst, 4; Leipzig 1869–71), re-ed. t. dart (Paris 1959). w. mellers, François Couperin and the French Classical Tradition (London 1950); Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. e. blom, 9 v. (5th ed. London 1954) 2:484–498. c. bouvet, Une Dynastie de musiciens français: Les Couperin (Paris 1919); Nouveaux documents sur les Couperin (Paris 1932). j. tiersot, Les Couperin (Paris 1926); "Two Centuries of a French Musical Family: The Couperins," tr. t. baker, Musical Quarterly 12 (1926) 406–431. p. citron, Histoire de la musique, ed. roland-manuel, 2 v. (Paris 1960–63); v. 9, 16 of Encyclopédie de la Pléiade 1:1634–39; Couperin (Paris 1956). c. addington, "Peace on Parnassus," Recherches sur la Musique française classique 23 (1985) 71–81. e. corp, "François Couperin and the Stuart Court at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 1691–1712: A New Interpretation," Early Music 28 (2000) 445–453. e. higginbottom, "François Couperin (ii) [le grand ]," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. s. sadie, v. 4 (New York 1980) 860–871. w. landowska, "French Music of the Past: François Couperin," in Landowska on Music, ed. and tr. d. restout (New York 1964) 259–267. d. m. randel, ed., The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music (Cambridge, Mass. 1996) 181–182. n. slonimsky, ed., Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (8th ed. New York 1992) 365–366.

[e. borroff]