Marguerite-Antoinette Couperin (19 September 1705c. 1778) was a French

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 ...

ist, the first woman to hold the position of ''ordinaire de la musique de la chambre du roi pour le clavecin'' (court musician to the King of France).

Life

The

Couperin family The Couperin family was a musical dynasty of professional composers and performers. They were the most prolific family in French musical history, active during the Baroque era (17th—18th centuries). Louis Couperin and his nephew, François Coup ...

were a dynastic French musical family of professional composers and performers first mentioned in 1366. Marguerite-Antoinette was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, the daughter of

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 ...

(the Great). She became active at the French court from at least 1729 (she is mentioned in an article in the ''

Mercure de France The was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was published f ...

''). On 16 February 1730 she succeeded her father in the office of ''Ordinary musician of the King's chamber for the harpsichord'' when her father retired. This was a feature of French courtly music in which musicians were able to bequeath or sell their positions in a system called ''survivance''. The title ''Ordinaire '' is the most junior rank in the hierarchy of the court's musicians and reflected her age and relative inexperience. She was the first woman to take up a position as court musician. She also taught harpsichord to Louis XV's daughters. On 25 November 1741, she sold her office to

Bernard de Bury Bernard de Bury or Buri (20 August 1720 – 19 November 1785) was a French musician and court composer of the late Baroque era. Biography Bernard de Bury was born at Versailles, a member of a family of musicians, many of whom had appointments to t ...

(1720–1785) for 6000 ''

livres The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France. The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 gr ...

,'' as she was unable to continue in it herself for reasons of health. She died in Paris.

References

* *Beausant, Philippe (1980), ''François Couperin,'' Paris, Fayard *Benoit, Marcelle (red.) (1992), ''Dictionnaire de la musique en France aux XVII et XVIIIe siècles,'' Paris, Fayard *Mellers, Wilfrid (1968), ''François Couperin and the French Classical Tradition,'' New York, Dover Publications, Inc. Margueriteantoinette 1705 births 1770s deaths French harpsichordists 18th-century keyboardists 18th-century French women musicians Women harpsichordists {{France-musician-stub

Life

See also

References