Louis Couperin

Louis Couperin (French: [lwi kupʁɛ̃]; c. 1626 – 29 August 1661) was a French Baroque composer and performer. He was born in Chaumes-en-Brie and moved to Paris in 1650–1651 with the help of Jacques Champion de Chambonnières. Couperin worked as organist of the Church of St. Gervais in Paris and as musician at the court. He quickly became one of the most prominent Parisian musicians, establishing himself as a harpsichordist, organist, and violist, but his career was cut short by his early death at the age of thirty-five.

None of Couperin's music was published during his lifetime, but manuscript copies of some 200 pieces survive, some of them only rediscovered in the mid-20th century. The first historically important member of the Couperin family, Couperin made contributions to the development of both the French organ school and the French harpsichord school. His innovations included composing organ pieces for specific registrations and inventing the genre of the unmeasured prelude for harpsichord, for which he devised a special type of notation.

Birth and Death Data: Born 1626 (Chaumes-en-Brie), Died August 29, 1661 (Paris)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1914 - 1941

Roles Represented in DAHR: composer

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Victor C-14773 12-in. 4/29/1914 La bandoline Ignace Jan Paderewski Piano solo composer  
Victor C-14774 12-in. 4/29/1914 Le carillon de Cythere Ignace Jan Paderewski Piano solo composer  
Victor BVE-57950 10-in. 12/24/1929 La precieuse Fritz Kreisler Violin solo, with piano composer  
Victor CS-066701 12-in. 7/10/1941 Fantaisie sur l'air "Une jeune fillette" Joseph Bonnet Organ solo composer  
Gramophone BLR6068 10-in. 2/15/1930 La précieuse Fritz Kreisler ; Michael Raucheisen Tenor vocal solo, with violin and orchestra composer  
Decca 65542 10-in. 5/5/1939 Chaconne Alice Ehlers composer  

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Couperin, Louis," accessed April 25, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103188.

Couperin, Louis. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved April 25, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103188.

"Couperin, Louis." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 25 April 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103188

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