François Couperin was perhaps one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the Baroque era. Along with four books of harpsichord pieces, Couperin published a theoretical treatise on harpsichord playing, L'Art de toucher le clavecin, in two editions in 1716 and 1717. In the treatise, Couperin also included some instructional pieces: one allemande and a series of eight preludes. The allemande is a two-part invention largely comprised of canonic imitation. The preludes, quasi-improvisatory pieces, represent some of Couperin's best efforts with the form and suggest, in their balance and complexity, the preludes of J.S. Bach. Prelude No. 1 in C major consists of sequences of chords in suspension, as does Prelude No. 2 in D minor. Prelude No. 3 is a polyphonic courante in G minor; the fourth, in the key of F, is similar to Preludes No. 1 and No. 2 in its use of suspensions. Prelude No. 5 is perhaps the most fluid and free of the eight, and is in the key of A major. Prelude No. 6 is an invention in B minor in which the complexity of the counterpoint creates metric displacement and dissolves the bar line. Prelude No. 7 in B flat major is highly ornamented and chromatic, while the final Prelude No. 8 in E minor is comprised of sequential patterns and ornate figuration. Couperin intended his preludes as warm-up exercises for his own music: a performer could use one of the preludes as preparatory tool, selecting and playing the appropriate prelude in the appropriate key before performing other works by Couperin in the same key.

© Alexander Carpenter, Rovi