Although it wasn’t Louis Couperin but his nephew François that gained the nickname the Great, the music of Louis – the doyen of a family of great musicians – certainly doesn’t lack originality. In addition to his achievements in the field of organ music, his harpsichord works, especially the non-measured preludes, come to the fore. Louis Couperin is one of the first authors of this type of composition. The preludes, traditionally performed as an introduction to suites and other pieces, were most often improvised, but Louis left them to posterity in the form of notated compositions – albeit, written down in a rather mysterious way, as their scores contain only the interval structure devoid of rhythm. The final shape of the piece depends, therefore, on the talent of the interpreter, as well as his knowledge of counterpoint. What’s more, they sometimes take a very refined form – as in the case of the Prelude in A minor, which begins with a quote from a toccata by Johann Jacob Froberger, while the middle fragment takes on the character of a fugue. The work can thus be considered a tribute to the great German composer whom Couperin admired and considered his role model.
Apart from elaborate preludes, the concert program will also include the composer’s marvelous suites. In terms of their approach to form, they do not differ from what was considered the norm in the 18th century, yet they delight with harmonic richness and polyphonic inventiveness. The secrets of Louis Couperin’s nuanced music will be revealed to the audience by Władysław Kłosiewicz, an outstanding harpsichordist and expert in early music.
PROGRAM
Louis Couperin (1626–1661)
Suite en la mineur
Prélude à l’imitation de Mr Froberger
Allemande l’Amiable – Courante La Mignonne – Sarabande – La Piemontaise – Passacaille en do majeur
Suite en sol mineur
Prélude
Allemande – Courante -Sarabande – Passacaille – Chaconne
Prélude en ré majeur
Pavane
Suite en ré mineur
Prélude
Allemande – Courante – Sarabande – Seconde Sarabande – Canaries – Chaconne
PERFORMER
WŁADYSŁAW KŁOSIEWICZ HARPSICHORD
