| A | B |
|---|
| France: Cultural Center | While Italy had many cultural centers, France had only one: Paris= Paris was home to most prestigious concert organizations like the CONCERT SPIRITUEL (a public concert series founded in 1725) |
| Royal Court of Louis XV | Lousi XV (r. 1715-74) continued to support musicians but no longer dominated musical life like Louis XIV (his grandfather)= In its place a wider range of patrons and institutions supported musicians and composers |
| French Composers and Italian Music | French composers wanted to fuse the 2 musical styles |
| Francois Couperin | (1668-1733) One of most active proponents of blending French and Italian taste= His career reflects growing diffusion of patronage in France |
| Francois Couperin: Harpsichord Ordres | (aka Harpsichord Suites; published between 1713 and 1730) Were loose aggregations o fminiature pieces, most in dance rhythms and in binary form but highly stylized and refined, intended as recreation for amateur performers= Very French yet individual in style, most of these pieces carry evocative titles |
| pg. 428-429 | pg. 428-429 |
| L'art de toucher le clavecin | (The Art of Playing the Harpsichord, 1716) Was Couperin's book= Is one of most important sources for performance practice of the French Baroque |
| Francois Couperin: Chamber Music | In his chamber music, he synthesized French with Italian styles= Through the titles, prefaces, and choice of contents for his published collections he proclaimed that the perfect music would be a union of the two national styles= |
| pg. 429 | pg. 429 |
| Francois Couperin: Trio Sonatas | Couperin was first and most important French composer of trio sonatas, beginning in 1692= His collection "LES NATIONS" (The Nations, 1726) |
| Les Nations | (The Nations, 1726) Couperin's collection of trio sonatas= Contains 4 ordres, each consisting of a sonata da chiesa in several movements followed by a suite of dances, thus combining the most characteristic genres of France and Italy in a single set= Within each ordre, combined French and Italian style traits (EX: using French agrements to ornament passages based on the sequences, walking basses, and circle-of-fifth harmonic progressions typical of Corelli sonatas) |
| Francois Couperin: Concerts | Also wrote 12 suites he called CONCERTS for harpsichord and various combinations of instruments, each consisting of a prelude and several dance movements= Titled the first four "CONCERTS ROYAUX" (Royal Concerts, 1722)= Published last 8 in a collection titled "LES GOUTS-REUNIS" (The Reunited Tastes, 1724) signifying that they joined French and Italian styles |
