François Couperin

Couperin perfected the French ornamental style, where trills, mordents, and grace notes aren't mere decoration but essential to the musical argument. His harmonic language favors the piquant dissonance and the languorous suspension, creating a sound world that's both sensuous and intellectually rigorous. He organized his harpsichord works into suites filled with character pieces—musical miniatures with evocative titles that blur the line between absolute music and programmatic storytelling.

He inherited the crown of French keyboard music from his uncle Louis Couperin and Chambonnières, then passed the torch to Rameau. His famous comparison of French and Italian styles in his treatise L'Art de toucher le clavecin shows his deep engagement with both traditions. J.S. Bach studied and copied his music, and Ravel would later pay homage to him in Le Tombeau de Couperin.

His early career focused on organ music and church positions, following family tradition. The middle period saw his four published volumes of harpsichord Ordres (1713-1730), where he developed his unique blend of dance forms and character pieces. Late in life, he synthesized French and Italian styles in works like Les Goûts-réunis and L'Apothéose de Corelli, attempting a rapprochement between the two great national styles.

Couperin held one of the most prestigious positions in French music as organist at the royal chapel at Versailles, where he performed for Louis XIV's daily Mass. Despite this exalted role, many of his most personal and experimental works were his harpsichord pieces with whimsical titles like 'The Mysterious Barricades' or 'The Soul in Torment'—music that suggests an inner world far removed from courtly ceremony.

His Leçons de ténèbres (Tenebrae Lessons) for Holy Week are among the most hauntingly beautiful sacred vocal works of the Baroque era, yet they're rarely performed today—a treasure trove of expressive writing that deserves far wider hearing.

Couperin appears regularly in early music festivals and harpsichord recitals but remains surprisingly underrepresented in mainstream chamber music programming. There's been growing interest in his vocal works, especially the Leçons de ténèbres, and his keyboard music has found new audiences through period instrument recordings and modern piano transcriptions.