Luogo e data di registrazione		Amsterdam (Holland) - 1979
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Recording Supervision		P. Dery | W. Draga
	Engineer		Sonart, Milano
	Prima Edizione LP		Harmonia Mundi (EMI Electrola) | 1C 065-99 871 | 1 LP - durata 57' 34" | (p) 1980
	Edizione CD		Deutsche Harmonia Mundi | LC 0761 | GD 77058 | 1 CD - durata 57' 34" | (c) 1990 | ADD
	Cover Art		Charles Couperin (1638-1679), der Bruder und Schüler von Louis Couperin. Das Gemälde von Claude Lefèbre (1632-1675) zeigt ihn mit der Tochter des Malers. Mit freundl. Genehmigung von Giraudon.
	Note		-

Just as the name “Bach” immediately brings Johann Sebastian to mind, upon hearing the name “Couperin” we tend to think of François, whose achievements were so noteworthly that even his contemporaries called him “the Great”. Like the Bachs, however, the Couperins were a large family, whose played a dominant rôle in the history of French music. Not until recently, however, has the founder of this musical dynasty begun to emerge from the shadow of his famous nephew. Louis Couperin was born in Chaumes-en-Brie (about 50 km east of Paris) in 1626. With his two brothers François (born around 1630) and Charles (born 1638, the father of François "the Great") he grew up in the pastoral setting of this small town. The brothers seem to have received their first training in music from their father, who was the school-master and pastor, and who probably gave them organ lessons. Due to the fact that a number of nobles and court musicians had country estates in the vicinity of Chaumes, the Brie was the scene of a fairly lively musical life, to which the three young musicians probably owed a great deal. On a certain 24th of July (probably in the year 1652), they decided to give their famous neighbour Jacques Champion de Chambonnières a little serenade composed by Louis, in honour of his name-day. This initiative was to have a decisive effect upon the subsequent fate of the family. Chambonnières, the founder of the French clavecin school, was so impressed by the performance and by the unusual talent of the young composer, that he immediately took him under his wing, put in a good word for him at court and, as early as 1653, helped him secure the position of organist at the church of St. Gervais in Paris. (François and Charles soon followed Louis there, and indeed this position remained more or less in the family until 1826). From then on, Louis’ rise was inevitable: under Chambonnières’ guidance he made such progress that he had soon reached - or, indeed, surpassed - the level of his teacher. At the same time, Chambonnières' own light was beginning to dim, and several of his colleagues, jealous both of his success in aristocratic circles and his title, schemed to get him removed from his post as Court Clavecinist in favour of his pupil. They failed, however, to reckon with Louis' integrity: he refused adamantly to have any part of these intrigues; in fact, this was probably the very reason that the king decided to grant him the Post of a Court Violist. Unfortunately, he was not to enjoy his happiness for very long: he died in mid-Oktober 1661, at the age of 35. His musical career had lasted no more than a decade, but in this short span he had created an oeuvre of astonishing dimensions, which secured him a permanent reputation. Apart from a few simphonies for violas he left behind some 200 pieces for organ and (mainly) for harpsichord. Most of these were not published until 1936; and those which have since then been discovered are for the most part still unpublished. As far as we know - both ot our primary sources seem to be copies prepared by some other hand - Louis Couperin arranged these pieces by key signatures. leaving it up to the pertormers to pick whichever they pleased tor arrangement into suites. An exception seems to have been the préludes "non mesurés", which in one of our sources are grouped together at the beginning. Their unusual notation (semibreves) with long ties and no bar lines is directly derivative from the practice, common among lutenists, of playing rhythmically free prelude music. They also show clearly the influence of the Italian style, and there is no doubt that Froberger. who was in Paris from 1650 to 1653, introduced Couperin to the improvised character of some of Frescobaldi‘s toccatas. The lutenist Blancrocher, who died in 1652 as the result ot falling down a stair-case, was honoured not only by his colleague Denis Gaultier, but also by Couperin and Froberger, who followed the common practice of composing a tombeau as a sort of musical monument. Louis Couperin furthermore honoured his German friend with his A-minor prelude. Although the dance movements are for the most part based on the standing formal models, they are nonetheless, with few exceptions, marked by a seriousness, a boldness of harmony and a variety of rhythms which place Louis Couperin far above his French contemporaries, on a level altogether comparable to that of his famous nephew. Jacques Delalande