Carillon

Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin is a double memorial. He began the piece shortly after WWI had erupted; the six movements became tributes to six friends who died in battle. Moreover, Ravel pays tribute to the Baroque dance suite and forms that inspired François Couperin centuries earlier. No one would mistake Ravel’s piece for an actual Baroque dance suite, though at least the intent was there. It joins with works by Stravinsky, Poulenc, Satie, and others that escaped political and social upheavals of the time by seeking a neo-classical sound. A similar situation pertains to Richard Strauss (1864-1949), who composed a Dance Suite based on music by Couperin in the early 1920s. Strauss was already the master of historical pastiche (witness Der Rosenkavalier), which helped energize the Weimar-era musical scene in Germany. Though later condemned by political leaders for his excesses and decadence, Strauss clearly enjoyed a neo-classical leanness as well. The third movement of the Dance Suite, titled “Carillon,” features celesta, harp, and harpsichord in a simple transcription of Couperin’s keyboard music.

(c) Jason Stell