Concerts royaux (Couperin)

The Concerts royaux (singular: Concert royal; English: Royal Concerts) are chamber music suites by François Couperin written for the court of Louis XIV. Each consists of a prelude and a succession of dances in the order allemande, sarabande or courante, followed by others – but the suites are intended for listening more than dancing.

Four were produced in 1714 and published in 1722. Another ten followed in 1724, now called Nouveaux concerts, ou les Goûts réunis (referring to the "reunited" French and Italian musical tastes). Neither of the two sets has fixed instrumentation: each suite can be played by solo harpsichord or an ensemble with a bass and three melody instruments, such as a violin, a viol, and an oboe or flute. (This freedom is found also in works by Marin Marais and Gaspard Le Roux.) The first and more frequently played of the sets is as follows:

Premier concert in G Major

• Prélude
• Allemande
• Sarabande
• Gavotte
• Gigue
• Menuet en trio

Deuxième concert in D Major

• Prélude
• Allemande fuguée
• Air tendre
• Air contrefugué
• Echos

Troisième concert in A Major

• Prélude
• Allemande
• Courante
• Sarabande grave
• Gavotte
• Musette
• Chaconne légère

Quatrième concert in E Minor

• Prélude
• Allemande
• Courante française
• Courante à l'italienne
• Sarabande
• Rigaudon
• Forlane

• The original version, as published by François Couperin at the end of Troisième Livre de Clavecin (1722)
• Concerts royaux: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project