The Couperin family was a musical dynasty of professional

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 def ...

s and performers. They were the most prolific family in French musical history, active during the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

era (17th—18th centuries).

Louis Couperin Louis Couperin (; – 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 ...

and his nephew,

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

''le grand'', are the best known members of the family.

History

The earliest mention of the name Couperin is from 1366, but the first musician of the family was apparently Mathurin Couperin (c.1569–c.1640). A Beauvoir trader involved in legal and financial matters, Mathurin was also an amateur musician. No compositions by him survive, and he apparently stopped performing in 1619; but he taught his two sons, Denis and Charles. Charles (died 1654) settled in

Chaumes-en-Brie Chaumes-en-Brie (, literally ''Chaumes in Brie'') is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is best known as the ancient home of the Couperin family of composers and musicians. Popula ...

, a little town about 30 miles east of Paris, around 1601. He became a farmer and, eventually, part-time organist at the Benedictine abbey of St. Pierre (not the parish church). At least three of Charles' many children became professional musicians:

Louis Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also ...

(1626–1661), François (1631–1701), and Charles (1639–1679). The family's breakthrough came around 1650, when Jacques Champion de Chambonnières, then harpsichordist to the King of France, was visiting

Brie Brie ( ; ) is a soft cow's-milk cheese named after Brie (itself from Gaulish ''briga'', "hill, height"), the French region from which it originated (roughly corresponding to the modern of Seine-et-Marne). It is pale in colour with a slight gre ...

. ''Le Parnasse François'', a famous 1732 book by

Évrard Titon du Tillet Évrard Titon du Tillet (January 1677 – 26 December 1762) is best known for his important biographical chronicle, ''Le Parnasse françois'', composed of brief anecdotal lives of famous French poets and musicians of his time, under the reign of Lo ...

, contains an account of Chambonnières's visit: apparently Louis, François, and Charles visited Chambonnières on the Feast of Saint James—Chambonnières' name day—and offered the host and his guests a short concert, playing several pieces composed by Louis. The royal harpsichordist was so impressed with their skills that he took Louis to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

with him, and by 1651 the young composer was already living there. His brothers joined him soon afterwards. In 1653 Louis became the organist of Church Saint-Gervais: when he died, he was succeeded by Charles, Charles was succeeded by his son, and so on; the Couperins occupied the position for 173 years. Louis was evidently a very successful and influential composer, but he died young, in 1661, and most of his compositions remained unpublished until the 20th century. Some years after his death, the second of the two most important Couperins was born:

, nicknamed ''le Grand''—"the Great". Although suffering from poor health throughout his life, François was a very prolific composer. He produced four ''livres'' of harpsichord pieces that represent the summit of the French harpsichord school, authored an influential and historically important treatise on harpsichord playing ('' L'art de toucher le clavecin''), and produced a number of other, sacred and secular works, that are still well known today.

Simplified family tree

Organists of the Church Saint-Gervais are given in bold. The number in parentheses indicates the order of succession, i.e. Louis was the first organist of the church, succeeded by Charles, who was succeeded by François, etc. * Mathurin Couperin, died 1640; farmer, instrumentalist ** Denis, died 1656; notary, instrumentalist ** Charles the older, died 1654; instrumentalist ***

(1) (1626–1661); harpsichordist, organist and gambist *** François (–1708/12); violinist, violist and harpsichordist) **** Marguerite-Louise (1676–1728) soprano singer and harpsichordist **** Nicolas (4) (1680–1748), organist ***** Armand-Louis (5) (1727–1789); organist ****** Pierre-Louis (6) (1755–1789); organist ****** Gervais-François (7) (1759–1826); organist ******* Céleste-Thérèse (8) (1795–1860); organist ****** Nicolas-Louis (1760–after 1817) *** Charles (2) (1639–1679); organist ****

François François () is a French language, French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis (given name), Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * Voltaire, Fran ...

''the Great'' (3) (1668–1733); organist and harpsichordist ***** Marie-Madeleine (1690–1742); nun, organist ***** François-Laurent (died after 1740) ***** Marguerite-Antoinette (1705–1778); harpsichordist of the King's chamber

References

* David Fuller, Bruce Gustafson, Edward Higginbottom. "Couperin", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'', ed. L. Macy (accessed 30 January 2006)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access). * Claudia Schweitzer, Art
Couperin, Antoinette-VictoireCouperin, Céleste-ThérèseCouperin, Elisabeth, AntoinetteCouperin, Margueritte-AntoinetteCouperin, Marie-MadeleineCouperin, Marguerite-Louise
in: Lexikon "Europäische Instrumentalistinnen des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts, hrsg. von Freia Hoffmann, 2008.