François Couperin 1668 - 1733
This composer was born in Paris to a family that had been active in the field of music for generations. He was the son of an organist, Charles Couperin, from whom he began his musical training from a very young age. He also learned a great deal from his uncle with the same name, François Couperin. At the age of 10, his father died and he was then taught by an organist by the name of Jacques Thomelin.
His family had a musical tradition going back two centuries before he had been born. In fact, the family’s church, St. Gervais, had successively employed a member of the Couperin family as organist, non-stop, for a period of 173 years. As a sign of how advanced his musical ability had been, it is interesting that the post was officially offered to François at the age of 10 upon his father’s death, yet postponed until his 18th birthday. At the same time, there is information leading to the assumption that that the young Couperin played for services and received wages even before he was eighteen years of age
In 1689, at the age of 21, he married a woman by the name of Marie-Anne Ansault. Only a year later, he received a royal license to publish his only 2 organ masses. Shortly after, he composed a set of 4 sonatas, thereby marking the beginning of his career as a composer. In 1693, he became one of the four organists to King Louis XIV and succeeded Jean-Baptiste Lully as court composer. Along with this, his reputation as a teacher immensely was growing, teaching not only the kings children but a great deal of French nobility. He was not only busy teaching, but also performing, which was very demanding upon him personally.
In 1696, he was presented with his own coat of arms and only six years later, he received the Order of Chevalier de Latran, a form of knighthood and became the king’s harpsicordist. Even after the king’s death in 1715, he remained secure in the court of Louis XV. He died in Paris in 1733
Couperin was quite a prolific composer. Some of his best works were Concerts royaux, L’apothéose de Lully, Leçons de ténèbres and his Organ Masses. Yet, without a doubt, one of the most significant things he composed would be the four books of harpsicord works written between 1713 and 1730. The book contains various pieces which Couperin called ‘Ordres’. These ‘Ordres’ were a succession of dance music and were structured very similar to suites. Each piece of music or ‘Ordre’ had a particular name depicting a person, object, scene or a mood. ( Examples of such titles were: La Visionaire [The dreamer]; Les Ombres Errantes [The Moving Shadows]; Papillons [Butterflies] ). These pieces are representative of great technique as well as demonstrating what Couperin is most known for, namely fusing Italian and French music of the time.
François Couperin was a great composer, an organist, and a harpsicordist that was responsible for bringing together the musical elements and style of France and Italy. In addition to this, his innovative ideas and compositions are said to actually bridge two musical eras, the Baroque and the Classical. A truly great composer!
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