Celebrating the Couperin
Jane Clark and Derek Connon: The mirror of human life: Reflections on François Couperin's Pièces de Clavecin. King's Music, 2002.
School of Politesse: François Couperin Pièces de Clavecin (Ordre 1, pieces 1-6; Ordres 6, 13, 19, and 27 complete, played by Jane Clark, harpsichordist). Janiculum compact disc (JAN D206). Book and recording available in the US ($16.99 each, plus postage) from Rhinebeck Records <rhinebeckrecords@compu serve.com>.
Complete Seventeenth-Century French Unmeasured Preludes, played by Nannette G. Lunde, harpsichordist. Sparrow CD 101 (two compact discs issued in 2002) available from Skyline Publications <www.skylinestudio.com>.
Armand-Louis Couperin: Pièces de Clavecin played by Brigitte Haudebourg. Arcobaleno compact disc AAOC-94352 (issued in 1999) <www.kuysleis.com>.
Indispensable! One word characterizes this new book by Jane Clark and Derek Connon.
The largest part of the paperbound volume (pages 47-109) consists of a catalogue of movements making up the four books of François Couperin's Pièces de clavecin. From ordre to magnificent ordre, Jane Clark shares the most recent discoveries about the composer's often-elusive titles. In her introductory essay "Aspects of the social and cultural background" Clark writes of Couperin's connections to the Bourbon-Condé family, in particular to the music-loving Mlle de Charlolais (later the Duchesse Du Maine), facilitator, at the châteaux of Châtenay and Sceaux, of aristocratic theatrical entertainments, many of which have direct bearing on Couperin's music.
"Aspects of the literary scene" is Derek Connon's compendium concerning the increasingly-conservative French court during Couperin's time, the transvestite Abbé de Choisy, satiric offerings by the imported Italian theatrical troupes and their contrast to the style of the French Theatre, vaudeville, songwriters, the Fair theatres, and the Calotins. Both Clark and Connon note that Couperin had wide-ranging, non-highbrow literary tastes, and a particular interest in uniting Italian and French influences in his music.
In her choice of repertoire for the book's separate-but-complementary compact disc, Jane Clark "attempts to illustrate Couperin's theatrical sense" as it developed through the successive volumes of his Pièces de clavecin. In this traversal she succeeds elegantly, abetted by the properly-French timbres of her Feldberg Whale harpsichord after Jean Goujon.
Nannette G. Lunde's two-disc set comprising all the known 17th-century French unmeasured preludes for harpsichord is also a distinguished addition to the harpsichord discography. Beginning with sixteen "white-note" preludes of Louis Couperin, she continues with the multiple pieces in this style by Nicolas Lebègue, Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre, Jean Henry d'Anglebert, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, Gaspard Le Roux, and unique examples from the pens of Marchand, Rameau, Siret, and Michel (?) Forqueray. Twenty-nine anonymous preludes from widely-dispersed manuscripts complete this comprehensive project.
Lunde plays with style, conviction, and, above all, musicality in this often problem-plagued repertoire. Her solutions for organizing the improvisatory works are sensible, her artistry subtle, and the sounds from her 1988 Willard Martin harpsichord (after a Blanchet instrument of 1720), appropriate. Tuning in 1/4-comma meantone temperament and her choice of a low "French opera" pitch (A=392) allow these works to sound both pungent and dark-hued.
A suggestion to listeners: approach these discs as you would a large selection of appetizers from a gourmet menu! Too many at one time could lead to aural distress. The preludes were intended to preface dance movements or to test tunings. Use them as introductions to other, more rhythmically-structured works; savor the preludes one or two at a time, thus avoiding an oversdose.
Harpsichordist Brigitte Haudebourg achieved a first prize at the Paris Conservatoire in 1963 (studying with Marcelle Delacour and Robert Veyron-Lacroix). Since then she has pursued a successful career as soloist, continues as artistic director of an international summer festival of baroque art and music in Tarentaise, and has recorded at least fifty compact discs! She gives annual master classes at American universities in Laramie and Houston.
Haudebourg's playing of the (nearly) complete harpsichord works of Armand-Louis Couperin gives much pleasure. (The only solo works omitted from this disc are four pieces comprising "Les Nations"—a somewhat tongue-in-cheek glorification of French music in which the composer saved the best representation for his own country, following less-flattering musical evocations of the English, Italians, and Germans.)
Gems in this collection include the virtuosic Les Cacqueteuses (fowl humor), l'Arlequine (a piece that stands up well in comparison to the work of the same name by Armand-Louis' predecessor François), and the wrenching l'Affligée (with its particularly poignant harmonies in the pathetic key of B-flat minor).
An "edition" by Haudebourg of these pieces for the French publisher Zurfluh consists of the original 1751 publication in facsimile, with slightly more than a page of commentary (in French) containing biographical information plus a few sentences about some of the people referred to in the titles. This same information, complete with English translation, may be found in the notes to the compact disc.
The harpsichord music of Armand-Louis Couperin presents a particularly felicitous choice for playing from facsimile, since most of the pieces utilize the familiar treble and bass clefs of present-day usage. Only three works detour into the alto (C) clef for a few measures (Allemande, Arlequine, and Affligée). For many years I have played from a facsimile issued in Basel, Switzerland by Mark Meadow (under the imprint Musica Musica). Like the readily available and clear facsimile edition published by Broude Brothers Limited in their Performers' Facsimile series (PF41; $17.50), Meadow based his reprint on an original in the Library of Congress, uniquely identifiable by the Couperin signature scrawled at the lower right of the first page of La Victoire, the opening piece in the volume.
To learn more about Mme Victoire, to whom A-L Couperin dedicated his Pièces de clavecin, consult the indispensable book by Clark and Connon! Thus we come full circle in this celebration of France's major musical dynasty.
Send news items or comments about Harpsichord News to Dr. Larry Palmer, Division of Music, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275 ([email protected]).
