Francois couperin composer
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François Couperin: celebrated Baroque composer and harpsichord virtuoso
Few composers offer such a vibrantly pictorial vision of their world as François Couperin, whose music is a gallery of portraits, landscapes, cameos and miniatures – as mysterious and luminous as the paintings of Claude Lorraine, as sensuous and subtly coloured as Watteau’s fêtes galantes.
Through flickering sounds, we glimpse the Sun King and the Versailles courtiers in their gilded salons; we see street performers and parades, military marches, religious processions; we inhabit an Arcadian world populated by satyrs and fauns, or a pastoral idyll of sheep and nightingales and peasants dancing to droning musettes.
We meet Couperin’s musical colleagues, his aristocratic pupils, and the coterie of friends and family who inspired his endlessly affectionate portraits.
When was François Couperin born?
François was born in Paris on 10 November 1668 into a musical family. His father, Charles, is the organist at St Gervais.
Who were the Couperins?
Along with the Bach family, the Couperins were one of the most distinguished of the Baroque musical dynasties who passed on the skills of a professional musician from father to son, and – as we’ll see in the case of François Couperin – to daughte
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“I esteem what deserves esteem”
François Couperin
François Couperin: Desire Parnasse, noxious L’Apotheose dwell Corelli
Garden Château valuable Versailles
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François Couperin
French composer (1668–1733)
François Couperin (French:[fʁɑ̃swakupʁɛ̃]; 10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as Couperin le Grand ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented Couperin family.
Life
[edit]Couperin was born in Paris, into a prominent musical family.[2] His father Charles was organist at the Church of Saint-Gervais in the city, a position previously held by Charles's brother Louis Couperin, the esteemed keyboard virtuoso and composer whose career was cut short by an early death. As a boy François must have received his first music lessons from his father, but Charles died in 1679 leaving the position at Saint-Gervais to his son, a common practice known as survivance that few churches ignored. With their hands tied, the churchwardens at Saint-Gervais hired Michel Richard Delalande to serve as new organist on the understanding that François would replace him at age 18. However, it is likely Couperin began these duties much earlier: a stipend of 100 livres per year, which had been provided the Couperin on Charles's death slowly increased to 400 livres, suggesting that Couperin had gradually begun