大象传媒

Donald Macleod marks 350 years since the birth of Fran莽ois Couperin, one of France鈥檚 most dazzling musical talents.

Donald begins by leading us through a gallery of the musical portraits that Couperin composed 鈥� depicting his contemporaries Lully and Corelli, his aristocratic patrons, and well-known mythological figures. Next, he delves into Couperin鈥檚 extraordinary musical family tree, boasting a long line of 7 Couperins who served as organist of St Gervais in Paris. Throughout his glittering career at court, Francois Couperin maintained a loyal connection with his family church and dedicated several works for liturgical use there. We also hear about Couperin鈥檚 time in the court of Louis XIV 鈥� as the Sun King's composer, writing music for the Versailles Chapel and court entertainment, but also as royal harpsichord tutor. Finally, Donald examines how Couperin embraced the new musical idioms emerging from other countries, and in particular introduced Italian flavours to his native French style.

Music featured:
La Couperin
Salve Regina
L鈥橝poth茅ose de Corelli
La Charoloise
La Princesse de Sens
Arianne consol茅e par Bacchus
Regina coeli laetare, Alleluia
Louis Couperin: Five Fantasies
Pange lingua en basse
Quatre versets du motet
Armand-Louis Couperin: Simphonie de clavecins, in D major
La Manon
尝鈥椭苍肠丑补苍迟别谤别蝉蝉别
La Fleurie ou la tendre Nanette
Les plaisirs de Saint Germain en Laye
Domine salvum fac regem
Messe pour les couvents (Gloria)
Troisi猫me Le莽on
Les Nations (La Francois)
Messe pour les paroisses (Agnus Dei)
L鈥橝rt de toucher le clavecin
Respice in me
Concert Royaux (Premier Concert)
Pieces de violes avec la basse chifree (Deuxi猫me Suite)
La Milordine
La Piemontoise
Les Gouts-reunis ou Nouveaux Concerts (Cinqui猫me Concert)
Quatri猫me livre de Pieces de clavecin, Vingt-troisi猫me ordre

Presenter: Donald Macleod
Producer: Luke Whitlock for 大象传媒 Wales

For full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Francois Couperin : /programmes/m000114n

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we鈥檝e featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z