CRC 3597

François Couperin: The Complete Pièces de Clavecin, Volume 4Mark Kroll, harpsichordRecorded on harpsichords by Pascal Taskin (1769) and William Dowd (1974)

Septiême Ordre (22:27)1 La Ménetou 3:00

Les Petits Âges2 La Muse Naissante 2:143 L’Enfantine 2:114 L’Adolescente 2:305 Les Délices 3:12

6 La Basque 2:337 La Chazé 3:478 Les Amusemens 2:56

Dixneuvième Ordre (19:40)9 Les Calotins et les Calotines

ou La Pièce à Tretous 1:5610 Les Calotines 2:15

11 L’Ingénuë 3:1912 L’Artiste 3:4213 Les Culbutes Ixcxbxnxs 3:1014 La Muse Plantine 2:5315 L’Enjoüée 2:22

Vingt-Unième Ordre (14:30)16 La Reine des Coeurs 3:1817 La Bondissante 1:5518 La Couperin 4:1519 La Harpée, Pièce dans le goût

de la Harpe 2:3920 La Petite Pince-sans-rire 2:21

Total Time: 56:40

The Septième Ordre engineered by E. R. Staunt, 2016 on a 1974 William Dowd harpsichord (Taskinmodel) at Brooks Concert Hall, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts. The Dixneuvièmeand Vingt-Unième Ordres engineered by Frank Cunningham, 2016 on a 1769 Pascal Taskin harpsichord inthe private instrument collection of Marlowe A. Sigal, Newton Centre, Massachusetts. I am very gratefulto Mr. Sigal for providing his beautiful instrument, and to John Koster for his expert work in preparingand tuning the Taskin harpsichord for this recording. All three ordres were edited and mastered by PeterNothnagle.

—Mark Kroll.Cover Painting: Jean-Antoine Watteau: The Italian Comedy (1716).

�� 2017 Centaur Records, Inc. www.centaurrecords.com4

Vingt-Unième OrdreLa Reine des CoeursCalling a woman a “Queen of Hearts” inCouperin’s time meant that she was a domi-neering mistress. The queen in this piece,however, seems to be rather gentle, as thetempo lentement et tres tendrement describes.

La BondissanteOn the other hand, this “bounding” woman isquite the opposite: lively and jumping. Thetitle might also refer to the rapid beating ofthe heart of a lover.

La CouperinNoble but gentle, two aspects of Couperin’scharacter (the tempo marking is d’une vivacitémoderée), the work’s descending chromaticline adds a touch of poignancy to this self por-trait.

La Harpée, Pièce dans le goût de la HarpeThis piece might represent the style of harpplaying at the time, but there are other inter-pretations as well. One could be a reference toa family of actors called De La Harpe whomCouperin knew. Another is a thief or robber,as we learn from the somewhat anti-Semitic

saying of the period: such a criminal was “akinsman of King David who plays the harp.”

La Petite Pince-sans-rireThis title refers to the deadpan comic deliveryof a cynical joke in a theater, reminiscent ofthe same expression on the face Gilles, one ofWatteau’s greatest paintings.

1 It is beyond the scope of these notes todescribe these references in detail. Two excel-lent sources for further reading on this subjectare Jane Clark and Derek Connon, The Mirrorof Human Life (London: Keyword Press, 2002,rev. 2011) and Wilfred Mellers, FrançoisCouperin and the French Classical Tradition, rev.(London: Faber, 1987).

Mark Kroll’s distinguished career as a per-former, scholar and educator spans a period ofmore than fifty years. He has appeared in con-cert worldwide as a harpsichordist and fortepi-anist, published numerous books, article andeditions, and taught in the United States andabroad, including twenty-five years as Professorof Harpsichord and Chair of the Departmentof Historical Performance at BostonUniversity. His website is www.markkroll.com.

François Couperin: The Complete Pièces de Clavecin, Volume 4Mark Kroll, harpsichord