L'art de toucher le clavecin

Title page of the first edition.
Cinquième prelude
from L'art de toucher le clavecin, performed by Robert Schröter on a harpsichord tuned in equal temperament
Cinquième prelude
The same work performed in a reconstructed tuning of "temperament ordinaire", which could have been used in France at Couperin's time
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L'art de toucher le clavecin (English: The Art of Playing the Harpsichord) is a didactic treatise by the French composer François Couperin. It was first published in 1716, and was followed by a revised edition in 1717.

The treatise was written to instruct keyboard players in performance practice, particularly for Couperin's Pièces de Clavecin; Couperin, upon its publication, noted that it was "absolutely indispensable for playing my Pièces in the style most suitable to them".[1] With the early music revival, it became one of the primary sources for the keyboard fingering system which prevailed in Europe during the Baroque era.[2] It also sheds light on the ornamentation used at the time. It is considered one of the most significant surviving treatises of the period.[1]

  1. ^ a b Couperin, Francois (1974). "Foreword". In Margery Halford (ed.). L'art de toucher le Clavecin. Alfred Music Publishing. pp. 3–5. ISBN 0-7390-0760-2.
  2. ^ de Saint-Lambert, Michel (1983). Principles of the Harpsichord. CUP Archive. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-521-27269-8.