Le tombeau de Couperin

• Ravel composed his neo-Baroque piano suite Le tombeau de Couperin during WWI; specifically, he wrote it between 1914-1917.¹
  • Ravel volunteered for military service in 1914, but was initially rejected due to his age. In 1916, he ended up serving as a driver in the motor transport corps. (He named his truck Adélaïde, after one of his ballets). 
• Ravel studied the music of François Couperin in preparation for composing this suite. In 1914, he transcribed a forlane from Couperin’s Concerts royaux as part of his research.² 
• Margeurite Long played the premiere of this work in 1919 (in its original version, for piano).³ Ravel orchestrated the suite later that year.⁴
• Since the 16^th C. In France, the term Tombeau (“tomb” or “tombstone”) has been used to refer to a set of pieces commemorating a specific person’s death. The term originated in poetry, and musicians started to use it in the 17^th C.⁵
• Each movement of Le tombeau de Couperin is dedicated to one of Ravel’s fallen comrades from the war. This article gives a little biography of each dedicatee, and explains how Ravel knew them. 

Movements

1. Prélude. To the memory of Lieutenant Jacques Charlot 
2. Fugue. To the memory of Lieutenant Jean Cruppi 
3. Forlane. To the memory of Lieutenant Gabriel Deluc 
4. Rigaudon. To the memory of Piere and Pascal Gaudin 
5. Menuet. To the memory of Jean Dreyfus 
6. Toccata. To the memory of Captain Joseph de Marliave⁶

1. Barbara L. Kelly, “Ravel, (Joseph) Maurice,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed April 1, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000052145.
2. Ibid.
3. “Le tombeau de Couperin (Ravel, Maurice),” IMSLP, accessed April 1, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/Le_tombeau_de_Couperin_(piano)_(Ravel%2C_Maurice).
4. Kell, “Ravel, (Joseph) Maurice,” Grove Music Online.
5. Michael Tilmouth and David Ledbetter, “Tombeau (i),” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed April 1, 2021,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000028084.
6. “Le tombeau de Couperin (Ravel, Maurice),” IMSLP, accessed April 1, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/Le_tombeau_de_Couperin_(piano)_(Ravel%2C_Maurice).