Dale Carr | Suite in F major : Sarabande, by Louis Couperin, performed by Dale Carr on 25 April, 1987 @dalecarr6361 | Uploaded May 2024 | Updated October 2024, 3 hours ago.
Suite in F major : Sarabande, by Louis Couperin {~1626-1661},
performed by Dale Carr in the church in Middelbert {Groningen} on 25 April, 1987 on a harpsichord made by Hendrik Broekman in 1975
The Bauyn MS. contains three choices for the sarabande of the F-major suite; the general opinion is that the player may choose which and how many of each dance type to play, and that the allemande, courante, sarabande, & chaconne or passacaglia are generally included, though other types may well be omitted.
One aspect of this sarabande that I find especially intriguing is its metric & rhythmic subtlety. As with the preceding courante, the triple meter allows a great variety of subdivisions of the measure. The time signature here is given as "3", not 3/4 or 3/2; this may seem imprecise, but it avoids forcing an ungraceful oom-pa-pa 3-ness. The 1st "measure" turns out to be actually a ½-measure anacrucis {upbeat} to a series of measures that we would now write as 3/2 or 6/4 - in any case, many of the measures contain 6 𝅘𝅥, although the MS is not entirely consistent {whether on purpose or not} in its bar lengths. Although upbeats tend to be but a fraction of the main note-value, music history has many instances of such a ½-measure upbeat, of which I’ll mention only a small number:
- the beginning of the courante of Bach's 2nd French suite in c-minor, which is mostly in clear 3-beat bars;
- the closing chorus of Bach's motet Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV229 {Drauf schließ’ ich mich …}, in which the measures are clearly & consistently paired in upbeat-measures & downbeat-measures;
- many passages in Bach's organ prelude in G, BWV541, with the repeated rhythm 𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮|𝅘𝅥𝄾 ; here the downbeat 𝅘𝅥 is often a dissonance resolved on the 2nd beat.
An aspect of the over-all form that is worthy of mention is the matter of repetitions. The general ‘rule’ is that dances are in ‘binary form’ with an interior cadence on the dominant or another closely related key, and that each of the 2 §s is marked with repeat signs {which may or may not be obligatory}. The 1st ½ of this sarabande ends with a repeat sign
{youtu.be/ZXO89bzvslQ?t=53}, but it consists of 2 nearly identical §s: only the last 3 𝅘𝅥 of the sections are different, the 1st time moving to a ½-cadence on the dominant {youtu.be/ZXO89bzvslQ?t=32}, the 2nd time concluding in the tonic {which is itself rather unusual}. I chose not to play the repetition, which is really a repetition of a repetition, and also because there’s an opportunity for extending the dance by 2 extra bars @ the end, thanks to a sign {𝄋} a few bars before the final cadence {youtu.be/ZXO89bzvslQ?t=115} indicating a petite reprise, which is a short coda. {This sign has been omitted in the final bar of the MS, where it would be expected; but the intention is sufficiently clear.}
The harpsichord was tuned to a=~415Hz, in meantone. The plectra were crow quills.
Suite in F major : Sarabande, by Louis Couperin {~1626-1661},
performed by Dale Carr in the church in Middelbert {Groningen} on 25 April, 1987 on a harpsichord made by Hendrik Broekman in 1975
The Bauyn MS. contains three choices for the sarabande of the F-major suite; the general opinion is that the player may choose which and how many of each dance type to play, and that the allemande, courante, sarabande, & chaconne or passacaglia are generally included, though other types may well be omitted.
One aspect of this sarabande that I find especially intriguing is its metric & rhythmic subtlety. As with the preceding courante, the triple meter allows a great variety of subdivisions of the measure. The time signature here is given as "3", not 3/4 or 3/2; this may seem imprecise, but it avoids forcing an ungraceful oom-pa-pa 3-ness. The 1st "measure" turns out to be actually a ½-measure anacrucis {upbeat} to a series of measures that we would now write as 3/2 or 6/4 - in any case, many of the measures contain 6 𝅘𝅥, although the MS is not entirely consistent {whether on purpose or not} in its bar lengths. Although upbeats tend to be but a fraction of the main note-value, music history has many instances of such a ½-measure upbeat, of which I’ll mention only a small number:
- the beginning of the courante of Bach's 2nd French suite in c-minor, which is mostly in clear 3-beat bars;
- the closing chorus of Bach's motet Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV229 {Drauf schließ’ ich mich …}, in which the measures are clearly & consistently paired in upbeat-measures & downbeat-measures;
- many passages in Bach's organ prelude in G, BWV541, with the repeated rhythm 𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮|𝅘𝅥𝄾 ; here the downbeat 𝅘𝅥 is often a dissonance resolved on the 2nd beat.
An aspect of the over-all form that is worthy of mention is the matter of repetitions. The general ‘rule’ is that dances are in ‘binary form’ with an interior cadence on the dominant or another closely related key, and that each of the 2 §s is marked with repeat signs {which may or may not be obligatory}. The 1st ½ of this sarabande ends with a repeat sign
{youtu.be/ZXO89bzvslQ?t=53}, but it consists of 2 nearly identical §s: only the last 3 𝅘𝅥 of the sections are different, the 1st time moving to a ½-cadence on the dominant {youtu.be/ZXO89bzvslQ?t=32}, the 2nd time concluding in the tonic {which is itself rather unusual}. I chose not to play the repetition, which is really a repetition of a repetition, and also because there’s an opportunity for extending the dance by 2 extra bars @ the end, thanks to a sign {𝄋} a few bars before the final cadence {youtu.be/ZXO89bzvslQ?t=115} indicating a petite reprise, which is a short coda. {This sign has been omitted in the final bar of the MS, where it would be expected; but the intention is sufficiently clear.}
The harpsichord was tuned to a=~415Hz, in meantone. The plectra were crow quills.
