Couperin and Copland, 2013

November 11, 2013.  Couperin and Copland.  François Couperin was born on November 10, 1668.  He was called Le Grand, the great, because for one, he was a composer of genius, but also because had to be distinguished from other member of his musically talented family.  The Couperins came from the town of Brie, just east of Paris, famous for its cheese.  The first Couperin to come to Paris was Louis: as the story goes, the famous harpsichordist of the time, Jacques Champion de Chambonnières, was celebrating his birthday outside of Brie, and the Couperin brothers serenaded him with a song composed by Lois.  The delighted Chambonnières invited him to Paris.  In 1653 Louis became the organist at the church of St-Gervais in the Marais, just across the Seine from the cathedral of Notre-Dame.  For several generations Couperins would occupy this position, and live in a house adjacent to the church.  The last member of the family, Gervais-François, played the organ till 1826, 173 years after Lois’ arrival in Paris.  Lois was a talented composer and harpsichordist; a collection of his work for the organ was discovered only in 1960, and together with his compositions for the harpsichord they represent a major body of work.  Lois died at the age of 35; had he lived longer he probably would’ve developed into one of the greatest French composers of the 17^th century.  Two younger brothers followed Lois to Paris, both musicians but not as accomplished.  Charles became the organist at St-Gervais and in 1668 had a child, François Le Grand.  Charles died when François was only eleven, but church officials reserved the position of organist for François, waiting for him to turn 18.  He studied music with the best teachers and assumed the position at St-Gervais before he reached the designated age.  He became famous both as the organist and as a composer (his two mass settings were published in1690), and in 1693 he became an organist in the Chapelle Royale as a King Louis XIV musician.  He also taught the harpsichord to the King’s children.  It’s that instrument that Couperin loved and composed for the most.  Four books of music for the harpsichord were published during his life, from 1713 to 1730.  Instead of organizing them into suites, as was customary at the time, he set them in Orders, from five to eight to a book.  He didn’t use dances, the usual components of suites (Bach’s are the supreme example), very often; instead he wrote pièces de caractère (character pieces), some with evocative names: Le rossignol-en-amour (Nightingale in Love), Le croc-en-jambe, which means to trip somebody, or Les graces incomparables, ou La Conti (in reference to a princess of Conti).  In 1723 his passed the position at St-Gervais to his nephew Nicolas.  Though in poor health in his later years, he continued to compose and edit his music.  In 1725 he wrote Apothéose de Lully, a concert in memory of Jean-Baptiste Lully.  The concert “describes” the meeting of Lully and Corelli, two founders of rival Baroques styles, the French and Italian, on Parnassus.  Apollo attempts to reconcile them.  (Couperin also wrote a separate concert for Corelli, Le Parnasse ou L'Apothéose de Corelli).  Originally composed for two harpsichords, these days Apothéose de Lully is usually performed by chamber orchestras.  Here it is, recorded in 1963 by the Toulouse chamber orchestra, Louis Auriacombe conducting.  François Couperin died in Paris on September 11^th, 1733.

Aaron Copland was born this week, on November 14^th, in 1900.  We’ll write about him later, but to celebrate, here’s his Fanfare for the Common Man as performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, also in 1963.

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