Le Petit Rein: A Song History
"Le Petit Rein," as the title is spelled in the dulcimer book that credits it to François Couperin, appears to be his harpsichord piece "Le Petit-Rien," the last of the eight pieces in the fourteenth ordre, or suite, of his Troisième livre de pièces de clavecin.[1][2] That third book was first printed in Paris in 1722, and IMSLP gives the fourteenth ordre's keys as D major and D minor.[2] The ordre opens with a run of pieces whose titles name birds, beginning with "Le Rossignol-en-amour," and closes with "Le Petit-Rien."[2][3]
Louis Bellot, Harpsichord, wood and various materials, 1742. A French harpsichord made nine years after Couperin's death, shown for the instrument he wrote for; it has no connection to him.
Couperin was born in Paris in 1668 and died there in 1733; he took over his late father's organ post at Saint-Gervais while still a teenager, became one of the organists of the royal chapel in 1693, and in 1717 was granted the right to succeed to the post of court harpsichordist.[4] Between 1713 and 1730 he published four books of harpsichord ordres, part of a body of more than 200 pieces for the instrument, some of them openly descriptive.[4] Angela Hewitt recorded "Le Petit-rien" on modern piano, together with three other pieces from the fourteenth ordre, for Couperin: Keyboard Music 3 on Hyperion.[5]
Larry Conger's DAD-tuning arrangement, credited to Couperin, appears in The Classical Dulcimer, a Fingers Of Steel book of older music that, in its description's words, has "stood the test of time."[1]
Sources
- Fingers Of Steel: "Larry Conger, The Classical Dulcimer".
- IMSLP: "Pièces de clavecin, Livre 3 (Couperin, François)".
- PTNA Piano Encyclopedia: "Pieces de clavecin troisieme livre Ordre No.14".
- Encyclopædia Britannica: "François Couperin".
- Angela Hewitt: "Couperin: Keyboard Music 3".
- Image: Louis Bellot, Harpsichord, wood and various materials, 1742. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.