The album by Dorota Cybulska-Amsler highlights virtuoso works from the Couperin family. Alongside François “le Grand”’s Sizième Ordre de clavecin from Deuxième livre de clavecin (1717) we have his uncle Louis Couperin’s Pièces de clavecin from The Bauyn Manuscript (c.1658) as well as his cousin Armand-Louis Couperin’s Pièces de clavecin, op.1 (1751).

Nowadays, the work of François Couperin is commonly associated with harpsichord music of the turn of the Baroque and Classicism. His elaborate miniatures and suites, plenty of brilliant ornaments, are now almost inextricably linked to the canonical harpsichord repertoire. However, François was not the only composer in the Couperin family. As the Dorota Cybulska-Amsler points out, names of members of the Couperin family, originating from the Chaumes-en-Brie region, are already in documents from the 16th century. In 1586, Mathurin Couperin (c.1569-c.1640), is still making a living mainly from farming, but he obtains the right to practice music for remuneration. His son, Charles I (1595-1654) goes on to be the founder of a musical dynasty.