Couperin's Op.6 'Les Incroyables' and Op.7 'Les Merveilleuses' refer to followers of a fashion favored by the aristocracy in Paris during the French Directory (1795-1799).
Composer Biography
Gervais-François Couperin (1759-1826) was the latest known musician of the Couperin family, a great French musical dynasty, whose works have survived.
Composer Biography
Gervais-François Couperin's mother, Elisabeth-Antoinette Blanchet (1752-1815), was a harpsichord teacher and a member of a distinguished family of French harpsichord builders.
Performer Biography
Simone El Oufir Pierini, born in Rome in 1996, graduated in piano with highest honors and later pursued master's degrees in harpsichord and musicology.
Historical Context
Couperin composed variations on 'Ah! Ça ira,' an emblematic Revolutionary chant, and also on 'Complainte Béarnoise,' a royalist song lamenting King Louis XVI's confinement.
Recording & Production
This recording features an original J. Haselmann fortepiano from circa 1800-1810, tuned to A=430 Hz with Young 1 (1800) temperament.
Compositional Technique
In Couperin's 'Les Incroyables,' a recurring musical motif is accompanied by the written sentence 'Pa'ol d'honneur! C'est incoyabl'', mocking the Incroyables' refusal to pronounce the letter 'R'.
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