Dale Carr | Suite in b minor by Louis Couperin: Allemande; performed by Dale Carr in a concert in Zeerijp @dalecarr6361 | Uploaded March 2021 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
Suite in b minor by Louis Couperin: Allemande; performed by Dale Carr in a concert in Zeerijp {prov. Groningen} on 7 June, 1986 on a harpsichord built in 1975 by Hendrik Broekman {based on an instrument from 1688 by Michel Richard} with chinoiserie by Sheridan Germann.
The suite was not as standardized at the time of Louis Couperin as later in the 17th or in the 18th century. The number and type of movements could vary, as could their order. Nevertheless, what we call Couperin's suite in b-minor has many important elements of the later suite. Though it has but 3 movements, they are allemande - courante - sarabande, comparable in structure and style with those that can be found at the beginning of many 18th-century suites.
The key however is unusual for the mid-17th century, and requires some adjustment to what is generally considered to have been the normal tuning of the time in Paris, i.e. meantone - if we exclude the possibility of enharmonic split keys, which were not widespread there and are not available on my harpsichord. Two possibilities presented themselves: changing the temperament to allow for more than 12 reasonably in-tune chromatic tones, or transposing it to permit a different set of 12 in-tune chromatic tones. I chose the latter because I preferred the greater number of pure intervals that it offers. That meant tuning the 'normal' b-flat down to a# and the 'normal' e-flat down to d#.
The allemande also has a single e#, though it is written as an f-flat, which is orthographically an incorrect 'spelling'. More precisely, the flat sign is an accidental signifying the tone a ½-step lower than the key signature would require; but a triad of f-g#-c# would now be written as e#-g#-c#, functioning as the dominant of the following chord f#-a#-c#. In the context of a rising chromatic line & increasing harmonic tension, it seemed unnecessary to retune this string to match the corrected spelling of the note; so we're left with an incorrect tuning of an incorrectly notated tone.
The courante of this suite is here: youtu.be/vkEeUc9jvB0 .
Suite in b minor by Louis Couperin: Allemande; performed by Dale Carr in a concert in Zeerijp {prov. Groningen} on 7 June, 1986 on a harpsichord built in 1975 by Hendrik Broekman {based on an instrument from 1688 by Michel Richard} with chinoiserie by Sheridan Germann.
The suite was not as standardized at the time of Louis Couperin as later in the 17th or in the 18th century. The number and type of movements could vary, as could their order. Nevertheless, what we call Couperin's suite in b-minor has many important elements of the later suite. Though it has but 3 movements, they are allemande - courante - sarabande, comparable in structure and style with those that can be found at the beginning of many 18th-century suites.
The key however is unusual for the mid-17th century, and requires some adjustment to what is generally considered to have been the normal tuning of the time in Paris, i.e. meantone - if we exclude the possibility of enharmonic split keys, which were not widespread there and are not available on my harpsichord. Two possibilities presented themselves: changing the temperament to allow for more than 12 reasonably in-tune chromatic tones, or transposing it to permit a different set of 12 in-tune chromatic tones. I chose the latter because I preferred the greater number of pure intervals that it offers. That meant tuning the 'normal' b-flat down to a# and the 'normal' e-flat down to d#.
The allemande also has a single e#, though it is written as an f-flat, which is orthographically an incorrect 'spelling'. More precisely, the flat sign is an accidental signifying the tone a ½-step lower than the key signature would require; but a triad of f-g#-c# would now be written as e#-g#-c#, functioning as the dominant of the following chord f#-a#-c#. In the context of a rising chromatic line & increasing harmonic tension, it seemed unnecessary to retune this string to match the corrected spelling of the note; so we're left with an incorrect tuning of an incorrectly notated tone.
The courante of this suite is here: youtu.be/vkEeUc9jvB0 .
