Dale Carr | Suite in b minor by Louis Couperin: Courante ; performed by Dale Carr in a concert on 7 June, 1986 @dalecarr6361 | Uploaded April 2021 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
Suite in b minor by Louis Couperin: Courante ; 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 and soundboard painting 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 prefered 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 French courante is characterized by great rhythmic complexity & subtlety. The 3/2 measure is divided into 2+2+2 beats or 3+3 beats in unpredictable alternation, often with simultaneous voices having different subdivisions. But the divisions can be even more complex, e.g. 3+1+2; and the harmony increases the subtlety even more. Dancers expecting a reliable oom-pa-pa will probably trip and break a leg.
The allemande of this suite is here: youtube.com/watch?v=4sZ9-TZs-PI
Suite in b minor by Louis Couperin: Courante ; 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 and soundboard painting 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 prefered 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 French courante is characterized by great rhythmic complexity & subtlety. The 3/2 measure is divided into 2+2+2 beats or 3+3 beats in unpredictable alternation, often with simultaneous voices having different subdivisions. But the divisions can be even more complex, e.g. 3+1+2; and the harmony increases the subtlety even more. Dancers expecting a reliable oom-pa-pa will probably trip and break a leg.
The allemande of this suite is here: youtube.com/watch?v=4sZ9-TZs-PI
