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Francois Couperin and the French classical tradition / Wilfrid Mellers.

By: Mellers, Wilfrid, 1914-2008 [author].
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookPublisher: London : Faber & Faber, 1987Edition: New and revised edition.Description: xvi, 526 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 0571139833 (hardback).Subject(s): Couperin, François, 1668-1733 | Composers -- France -- BiographyDDC classification: 780.92 COU
Contents:
The life -- Values and standards in the grand siecle -- Taste during the grand siecle -- Music, the court and the theatre -- The organ masses -- The two-violin sonatas -- The secular vocal works -- The church music -- The clavecin works -- The Concerts royaux and Suites for viols -- Chronology, influence and conclusions -- Couperin's theoretical work, with comments on rhythm, ornamentation and phrasing -- Couperin's resources and his use of them (with notes on the modern performance of his work)
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Barcode
General lending MTU Cork School of Music Library Store 780.92 COU (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 00205446
General lending MTU Cork School of Music Library Lending 780.92 COU (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 00101124
Total holds: 0

Bibliography: (pages 505-513) and indexes.

The life -- Values and standards in the grand siecle -- Taste during the grand siecle -- Music, the court and the theatre -- The organ masses -- The two-violin sonatas -- The secular vocal works -- The church music -- The clavecin works -- The Concerts royaux and Suites for viols -- Chronology, influence and conclusions -- Couperin's theoretical work, with comments on rhythm, ornamentation and phrasing -- Couperin's resources and his use of them (with notes on the modern performance of his work)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

A vastly expanded and revised version of the definitive study first published in 1950, this volume includes material of interest not only to musicians and musicologists, but to all students of the grand siecle. The author, recently retired from the University of York, incorporates the results of the scholarship of the past three decades, and has revised some chapters and completely rewritten others (e.g., the discussion of Couperin's resources and the problems involved in performing his works today). More than 100 pages of new material have been added in the addenda and periphera. These include a valuable essay titled ``Watteau, Couperin and the Theatre.'' Additional essays are concerned with the trio sonata and with newly discovered motets in the Bibliotheque Nationale, and give a handbook to Couperin's harpsichord pieces. The musical examples have been completely re-edited to conform to the new Oiseau-Lyre edition of the Complete Works; the original catalog of Couperin's works has been replaced by a new catalogue raisonne compiled by David Griffiths; and the extensive bibliography has been updated and revised. Although users may lament the lack of discography, the author justifies the omission by stating that ``there is now too much material in and out of the catalogues.'' Handsomely produced, this work is an essential purchase for all types and sizes of music libraries.-L. Smith, University of Western Ontario