Sheet Music: Le rossignol en amour

TitleLe rossignol en amour
from Troisième Livre de pièces de clavecin
Alternate titlesThe Nightingale in Love
ComposerFrançois Couperin (1668–1733)
InstrumentationFlute solo
KeyD major
RangeD4–B5
Time signature6/8
Tempo28 BPM
Performance time6:40
Difficulty levelintermediate
Download printable scorePDF Sheet Music (75 kB) (preview)
Download audio tracksMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (3.2 MB)
Date added2010-10-05
Last updated2010-10-05
Download popularity index☆☆☆☆☆ 0.7 (average)
Categories
Baroque

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Tuesday 5 October 2010

Tune of the Day: Le rossignol en amour

by François Couperin

François Couperin was a French composer, organist and harpsichordist of the Baroque period. He was known as Couperin le Grand (“Couperin the Great”) to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented Couperin family.

Couperin's harpsichord music is the dominant portion of his output, and one of the most impressive keyboard legacies in Western music. The individual pieces are grouped into 27 ordres, a term Couperin coined, apparently to distinguish them from the older suites. “Le rossignol en amour” (literally, “The Nightingale in Love”) is taken from the XIV ordre, and is an excellent piece to play on the flute, as the Composer himself wrote:

It is not necessary to adhere too precisely to the beat in the Double above; one must sacrifice everything to appropriate expression, to the clean execution of the passagework, and to softening the accents marked by the mordents. This “Rossignol” can be performed with the greatest possible success on the flute, when it is well played.