Ordre 26ème de clavecin

Instrumentation

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Musical Terms (3)

• agrément French
  Ornament. The French Baroque system of keyboard ornamentation — trills (tremblements), mordents (pincés), ports de voix, coulés, turns, and other small decorative figures — as distinct from the German or Italian ornament conventions of the same period. Couperin published a complete ornament table in L'Art de toucher le clavecin (1716/17) that is the definitive guide to interpreting his specific symbols. Each ornament has a precise symbol and realisation that must not be substituted with another convention.
  Always consult Couperin's own ornament table (reproduced in the Hinson, Heugel, and other modern editions) before attempting his agréments. Do not substitute German or Italian ornament realisations. When an ornament falls on a harmonically sensitive beat, the ornament enriches the dissonance — do not smooth it away.
• ordre French
  Suite; a French Baroque keyboard collection. Couperin's term for what German composers called a \"Suite\" and Italian composers called a \"Partita\" — a grouped set of dance movements and character pieces in a related set of keys. Unlike the strict Baroque suite (Allemande–Courante–Sarabande–Gigue), Couperin's ordres mix formal dances freely with portrait pieces, bird-paintings, pastoral evocations, and social satires. The first and last pieces share the same tonal centre; middle pieces may move to closely related keys.
  When preparing an ordre, consider its overall narrative arc. The sequence of pieces is deliberate — slow to fast, grave to playful, stable to searching. Decide which pieces to perform as a set (ordres can be played complete or in excerpt) and how to shape the transitions. Within an ordre, not all pieces need tempo contrast; sometimes Couperin places two gentle pieces together for accumulative effect.
• pièce de caractère French
  Character piece. A keyboard work with a descriptive or programmatic title indicating a mood, person, animal, scene, or social type rather than a dance form. Couperin's pièces de caractère — Les baricades mistérieuses, Les abeilles, Le tic-toc-choc, Sœur Monique, Les ombres errantes, and over 200 others — pioneered this tradition in European keyboard music. The descriptive title is part of the music's meaning: it sets the imagination before the first note.
  Take the title seriously but not literally. \"The Mysterious Barricades\" does not need a visual programme — the music expresses mystery and obstruction through its harmonic loops and refrain structure. Research what the title refers to (a person, an animal, an event, a social type) before performing: Couperin often had specific individuals in mind, and knowing the referent clarifies the affective target. The title is a performance instruction disguised as a name.