Couperin participated in the prestigious reign of Louis XIV as an instrumentalist and composer in La Chapelle and La Chambre of the king. Louis XIV’s passion for music is well-documented: he danced and played the lute and the guitar. He placed an organ in his private apartments, as well as a harpsichord in the Counsel Cabinet. Though the beginning of his reign bore the stamp of royal magnificence in which entertainment and tragic operas defined court ritual, this atmosphere began to disintegrate at the beginning of the 1690s, when Couperin arrived in Versailles. Signs of decadence began to accumulate. The formerly intimate atmosphere became imbued with cramped religiosity and outdated solemnity. Couperin kept himself apart from the events of his time, devoting his life to music. He benefited at Versailles from the support of his protectors, relations with his former teacher Thomelin, the king’s organist, and with de Lalande, who filled an important position, allowing him to frequent the court.

Upon Thomelin’s death a competition was organized to choose his Successor, Louis XIV himself choosing Couperin as organist of the Chapelle Royale. His work there consisted of playing the organ for masses (alternating with the plainchant), and accompanying singers and instrumentalists in concertante motets. Until the completion of the Chapelle Royale, which is still standing, the Chapelle was situated in what is now known as the Salon d’Hercule. The organ built by Etienne Enocq and Robert Clicquot was put in place in 1710. Until that time the four organists had used choir organs with only a few stops.

Apart from his prestigious positions as organist and harpsichordist, Couperin was the music master for the children of the royal families. He was the teacher of Monsieur le Dauphin-Duke of Burgundy, the grandson of Louis XIV; of the princes and princesses; of the future queen Marie Leczinska; of the Duke of Bourbon and his daughters; of the Count of Toulouse, a great collector of musical scores; and of all the prominent aristocrats. He dedicated his harpsichord works to them (La Conti, La Charolaise, La Bourbonnaise...) and advised them “to polish their playing in the style of today’s good taste, which is incomparably more pure than the old style”. Couperin taught his pupils the rudiments of composition and accompaniment and how to play their instruments; his goal was to cultivate sensitivity linked to current musical practice. Couperin wrote at this time his Rules for Accompaniment where he set out his principles for the practice of this art. His students—under whose protection he also dwelt—became a source of inspiration for his harpsichord pieces: his musical portraits of members of the court are comparable with La Bruyère’s literary character sketches.

The Concerts royaux

Couperin’s fame gave him the distinction of being part of the elite of his time. He was ennobled and acquired a coat of arms; he was made a knight in the Order of Latran by the Pope and rewarded as a “passionate servant of Italy”. Honors, titles, and the dedications of other musicians accompanied his ascension. His time was divided between Paris and Versailles. However, his relations with the church wardens at Saint Gervais underwent tensions due to late payments of his salary as organist. His family life also went through difficult passages: one son died, another disappeared, and in 1718 his eldest daughter joined a convent. Couperin’s mood darkened. One can imagine a link between these events and the illness he complains of in the first Livre de clavecin.