L'Art de toucher le clavecin: Prélude III

Description

The third prelude of L'Art de toucher le clavecin. Like the two before it, it is a short prelude written for those learning to play, trying out a different way of ornamenting from phrase to phrase. Played after the first two, it lets you trace how the ornamental expression develops.

In D minor and 6/4, at 57 seconds and 305 notes it has more notes than the previous two, and the harmonic layering is a little more complex. Over the broad flow of the six-beat bar, its delicate, distinctly French Baroque writing asks for both improvisatory freedom and precise finger control. The shade of the minor key gives each ornament its expression.

It is rated beginner, but the range spreads over four octaves, G1 to G5. Whether you feel the six beats as two broad groups of three or count them in small units changes the character, so slow the playback and check the flow of the beat. Following the ornament signs in the score view while listening makes it easier to see which notes carry an ornament.

A keyboard-playing method Couperin published in 1716, combining technical instruction with eight improvisatory preludes.