| Contents |
Couperin and his times -- The French lyrical style -- Italian influences on the French classical style -- Sacred music -- Chamber music -- Works for harpsichord -- Appendices. List of works by Francois Couperin ; Prefaces to Couperin's works ; Entry on Francois Couperin in Titon du Tillet's Le Parnasse francois ; From chapter 6 of Paris Ceremonial: of organists and organs, for the use of all collegiate, parish and other churches of the city and diocese of Paris / Martin Sonnet, Priest, Paris ; Text and translation of the lessons from the first nocturn of matins for maundy Thursday ; Dance forms in Couperin's music ; Couperin's table of ornaments. |
| Abstract |
François Couperin's contribution to the literature of baroque keyboard music has long been recognized. This book updates and expands upon the author's valuable 1982 BBC Music Guide to the composer, and examines the whole of Couperin's output including the organ masses, motets and chamber music, in addition to the well-known works for harpsichord. Taking as its focal point Couperin's concept of the perfection of music through the union of the French and Italian styles, this book takes a more analytical approach to Couperin's work. Early chapters outline the main contrasting features of the two schools in the seventeenth- and early eighteenth-centuries, and it becomes clear that Couperin's expressive power owed much to his fusion of the polarities of the French classical tradition with that of the Italian baroque. The book features a number of appendices, including the prefaces to Couperin's work both in the original French and in English translation, and a glossary of dances of the French baroque. |
| Bibliography note | Includes list of works by Couperin (pages 121-128), bibliographical references (pages 164-167), and index. |
| LCCN | 2003063715 |
| ISBN | 0754609286 (alk. paper) |
