COUPERIN 1685

Life &Times

LIFE: Though he is not due to inherit the post of organist at St Gervais formally until his 18th birthday, he is already effectively performing the role, and receives payment of 300 livres a year.

TIMES: Louis XIV issues the Edict of Fontainebleau which, in revoking the earlier Edict of Nantes, deprives the Huguenots of the right to practise their religion without persecution.

1713

LIFE: Taking out a 20-year licence to print his own music, he begins with the publication of his Pièces de clavecin: premier livre and a treatise, L’art de toucher le clavecin. TIMES: A number of European states, including France, Spain and Britain, sign the Treaty of Utrecht, effectively leading to the end of the 14-year War of the Spanish Succession.

1668

LIFE: He is born in Paris on 10 November into a musical family. He receives tuition from his father, Charles, who is organist at St Gervais.

TIMES: Playwright Molière’s satire L’avare (‘The Miser’) receives its first performance at the theatre of the Palaisroyal in Paris. It rapidly becomes a hit across Europe.

1693

LIFE: He is appointed as an organist at the court of Louis XIV, performing duties in the first quarter of each year. TIMES: The French painter Jacques Rousseau, best known for his depictions of classic ruins and mastery of the trompe l’oeil, dies aged 63.

1723

LIFE: As his health declines, he enlists the help of his cousin, Nicolas Couperin, with his duties at St Gervais. Nicolas eventually becomes his successor. TIMES: Upon reaching his 13th birthday, Louis XV assumes power as king of France, taking over from Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who has been acting as regent.

1733

LIFE: Shortly after taking out a new tenyear licence to print his music, François Couperin dies, aged 64, in Paris. TIMES: French mathematician Abraham de Moivre, the author of the first book on probability theory The Doctrine of Chances, proposes the formula for estimating a factorial as n! = cnn+1/2e–n. Obvious, really.