Capturing the Spirit of the French Clavecin School: Interpreting Couperin’s Pièces de Clavecin, vingt-cinquième ordre and Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin

This critical commentary reports on a Performance-led research project which formed part of a Master of Philosophy in Music Performance (piano). The project involved the preparation and performance of Francois Couperin’s Pieces de Clavecin, vingt-cinquieme ordre and Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin in the same recital, with the intention of making explicit connections, both for the performer and the audience, between the two works. The first of these works could be considered to embody an expression of the spirit of the French Baroque; the second, an evocation of it. While Ravel’s work is clearly, not least by its title, related to Couperin’s music, or the music of the eighteenth century Clavecin School in general, the precise nature of this relationship and its meaning for the performer has not been given much systematic attention. This critical commentary begins with a discussion of the context and salient features of the Clavecin School. It then turns to Couperin’s vingt-cinquieme ordre and considers what is involved in the interpretation and preparation of this music, including a discussion of the feasibility of its performance on a modern piano. Several features of Ravel’s work are then considered in light of Couperin’s work, and the effect of the performer’s research into and preparation of the Couperin on the performance and interpretation of the Ravel is documented. The critical commentary concludes with reflections of the process of preparing and performing the two works as a pair.