Livre de Tablature by Couperin and the Teaching of French Harpsichord Music in Late-Seventeenth Century Italy

Marc Roger Normand (1664-1734), Couperin de Turin, emigrated to Turin, Italy in c. 1687 and quickly developed a flourishing career as composer, performer and teacher. His recently discovered Livre de tablature (US-BEm Music Library, MS1371) offers a rare glimpse into Couperin’s unique pedagogical approach. This paper investigates Couperin’s distinctive teaching style by scrutinizing his repertory and his detailed notation.

In his Livre, Couperin brought together pieces he collected from Paris to Turin. The 58 pieces, organized into 7 key suites, cover all major genres for the French harpsichord, except for the prelude. In addition to dance pieces by Chambonnières, D’Anglebert, Hardel and Monnard, there are new pieces by Couperin himself and La Pierre(s), arrangements of stage music by Lully and others, six doubles including two attributed to Louis Couperin, and the most extensive setting of the Folies d’éspagnes, altogether reflecting a blend of pedagogical intent and artistic excellence. Normand’s set of 27 couplets of the Folies is a compendium of harpsichord techniques with each couplet drilling on one skill, from scales and broken chords to trills and advanced combinations.

Couperin’s notation reveals performance details usually lacking in manuscripts. He was meticulous in the notation of held notes, used rhythmic dots to indicate notes inégales, and wrote out embellishments usually improvised. Uniquely, he employed 2 sets of reprise symbols for precise indication of repetitions, while his fingerings show that thumb crossing and non-adjacent fingerings were already in use by professional musicians of the time. In some passages, he offered simplified versions for less competent players. The reconstructed table of ornaments shows that Couperin inherited all ornaments from Chambonnières (1670) and 14 different ones from D’Anglebert (1689). In all, Couperin’s Livre sheds new light on the transmission of French harpsichord music as well as Couperin’s mature pedagogy beyond the French border.