''L'art de toucher le clavecin'' (English: ''The Art of Playing the

Harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

'') is a

didactic Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is an emerging conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to ...

treatise by the French

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

François Couperin François Couperin (; 10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as ''Couperin le Grand'' ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented ...

. It was first published in 1716, and was followed by a revised edition in 1717. The treatise was written to instruct keyboard players in performance practice, particularly for Couperin's ''Pièces de Clavecin''; Couperin, upon its publication, noted that it was "absolutely indispensable for playing my ''Pièces'' in the style most suitable to them". With the

early music revival :''See Historically informed performance for a more detailed explanation of this topic.'' The general discussion of how to perform music from ancient or earlier times did not become an important subject of interest until the 19th century, when E ...

, it became one of the primary sources for the keyboard fingering system which prevailed in Europe during the Baroque era. It also sheds light on the

ornamentation An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...

used at the time. It is considered one of the most significant surviving treatises of the period.

Publication history and contents

There are no known autograph copies of the treatise, but copies survive of the two versions published during Couperin's lifetime. The 1716 edition of the work included eight simple Preludes and an original

Allemande An ''allemande'' (''allemanda'', ''almain(e)'', or ''alman(d)'', French: "German (dance)") is a Renaissance and Baroque dance, and one of the most common instrumental dance styles in Baroque music, with examples by Couperin, Purcell, Bach a ...

, technique exercises and instructions, fingering notes for passages in ''Pièces de Clavecin'', and an essay about ornamentation. The 1717 edition added a new preface and a supplement outlining fingering for the second book of ''Pièces de Clavecin''. ''L'art de toucher le clavecin'' was one of the last books to include

unmeasured prelude Unmeasured or non-measured prelude is a prelude in which the duration of each note is left to the performer. Typically the term is used for 17th century harpsichord compositions that are written without rhythm or metre indications, although various ...

s for harpsichord (though bar numbers were added for teaching purposes), along with

Nicolas Siret Nicolas Siret (3 March 1663 – 22 June 1754) was a French baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was born and died in Troyes, France, where he worked as organist in the Church of Saint Jean and the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Pau ...

's second volume of harpsichord pieces (''Second livre de pièces de clavecin'', published in 1719).

References

External links

* 1716 books 1716 compositions Compositions by François Couperin Compositions for harpsichord Music books {{music-instrument-stub