Couperin - Le Tic-Toc-Choc, ou Les Maillotins

François Couperin was a French composer of the Baroque era. He is most well known for his works for harpsichord,  of which over 230 were published in 4 volumes ofPièces de clavecin (Keyboard pieces).  He also wrote a treatise printed in 1716 titled L'Art de toucher le clavecin (The Art Of Playing The Harpsichord), specifically to instruct players how to play his harpsichord pieces in the correct style, while also offering instruction on fingering and ornamentation. This book is still used by early music performers and scholars for information concerning playing style of the time in France.

Even within the limited communication modes of the time, Couperin's music was known by other composers outside of France. J.S. Bach knew his music, and they may have written to each other. Couperin's influence reached to composers in the 19th century as well. Brahms played his music in public, and contributed as an editor with Friedrich Chrysander in a complete edition of the Pièces de clavecin published in London in 1888.  Modern harpsichordists and pianists have kept Couperin's music in the repertoire through some popular examples.

Couperin gave descriptive titles to some of his keyboard pieces. Some whimsical, some descriptive, some of them rather undecipherable. The title of this piece, Le Tic-Toc-Choc ou Les Maillotins has numerous possibilities for translation and interpretation. Le tic-toc-choc has been thought of as representing the rhythm of a clock in comparison to the tempo of the piece. The last part of the title , ou Les Maillotins has been interprested as knock-knocks, or even little hammers.

It was intended for a two-manual harpsichord, per Couperin's instructions;

Pièce croisée: devra être jouée sur deux claviers, dont l’un sera repoussé ou tiré. Ceux qui n’auront qu’un Clavecin à un clavier, ou une épinette, joueront le Dessus comme il est marqué, et la Basse une octave plus bas. (Cross-piece: must be played on two-manual keyboards, one of which will be pushed back or pulled. Those who have only one harpsichord with one keyboard, or a spinet, will play the top as it is written, and the bass an octave lower.)

Modern  harpsichordists that have a two-manual instrument can follow Couperin's instructions, but pianists usually play the notes as written, which makes this a piece where both hands are on top of each other. This makes the piece all the more intriguing and difficult, as notes are rapidly played by one hand and then the other:

Couperin - Passacaille

The music of the Frenchman François Couperin was well-known and appreciated by many composers of his era, the most notable being J.S. Bach. He came from a very musical family and was called Couperin The Grand by his contemporaries to differentiate him from the rest of the family.  Couperin's influence spanned the centuries as Brahms and R. Strauss were also influenced by his music.

Couperin is best known for his works for solo harpsichord, published in Paris between 1713 -1730. There are over 200 pieces in four volumes, with pieces arranged similar to the Baroque dance suite, but Couperin called his sets of pieces ordres. The first and last pieces of these ordres were in the same key with the middle pieces in closely related keys. There are a total of 27 ordres in the four volumes of harpsichord pieces.

Couperin was a virtuoso keyboard performer and wrote a treatise called 'The Art Of Harpsichord Playing'  that remains a valuable source of information about performance practices of his time. Couperin delighted in giving some of his pieces descriptive titles that suited his music. He could be bold with his harmony for his time, and was fond of peppering his pieces with passing dissonances. Couperin was born in Paris and died there in 1733.

The Passacaille (French for passacaglia) was published in his second book of piano pieces, and was included with nine other pieces in the 8th ordre.  It is labeled a passaglia by the composer, the piece is also labeled rondeau in the music:

The first four bars of the piece are played and repeated. After these eight bars, there is an episode of different material, and the beginning eight bars return. The piece follows this pattern throughout. So is this piece really a passacaglia? In its simplest form, a  passacaglia  is a set of continuous variations played with a ground bass accompaniment throughout. This piece by Couperin is actually in a type of rondo form, as the variations are not accompanied by a ground bass, and Couperin says as much right before the music starts. But Couperin didn't use a musical form as a rigid form to pour their notes into, but as a tool to help express themselves, and they gave no thought to changing the form to fit the music. Perhaps the name is used because of the character of the piece, as passaglias are usually slow and serious. The repeating eight measures are certainly slow and serious. They return after each interlude (of varying moods themselves) with a plodding inevitability, as if there is no escaping whatever fate they represent .