It was to a young girl, in fact to a pupil, that Armand-Louis Couperin (b. Paris, 25th. February 1727 – d. Paris, 2nd. February 1789)...

It was to a young girl, in fact to a pupil, that Armand-Louis Couperin (b. Paris, 25th. February 1727 – d. Paris, 2nd. February 1789) dedicated his second set of harpsichord pieces. Anne-Louise-Marie de Beauvau- Craon (1750-1834) was currently receiving an education at the Port-Royal convent; an education of the finest quality which included the music lessons given by Couperin. The publication of Couperin’s Sonates en pièces de clavecin marks the end of a fifteen-year hiatus in the composer’s production, since the 1751 publication of a first book of Pièces de clavecin, dedicated to Madame Victoire de France. The prefatory “Notice” begins by underlining the probity and discretion of the author, who, although he bows to the solicitations of his friends, yet fears the judgment of the public, and who makes it his aim, in this first attempt and after mature reflection, “there to vary the colours and to be new” to mix and imitate different genres. “Sonatas in the form of harpsichord pieces” gives us the key: the renewal of the French style by the introduction of Italian elements, or rather by naturalising the Italian sonata by incorporating its novelties into the tradition of the French clavecinistes and their pieces, in a synthesis conciliating head and heart, novel in its means and effects. The resources of a harpsichord accompanied by a violin were sufficient for Couperin to combine all the force and vivacity of an orchestra with the grace of varied melodies.