Armand-Louis Couperin

Armand-Louis Couperin
(b Paris, 25 Feb 1727; d Paris, 2 Feb 1789). Composer, organist and harpsichordist, son of (6) Nicolas Couperin.

Nothing is known of his education, but it may safely be taken that his father and perhaps other relatives provided for the musical side, and he may have received his schooling as a choirboy at St Gervais. His library, which amounted to 885 books at the time of his death, was unusual for a professional musician, and speaks for a lively intellectual curiosity. As his mother died when he was only 17 months old, he was brought up by his father and a maidservant. When he was 21 his father died intestate; as sole heir of both parents, he inherited his father’s position at St Gervais and the apartment that went with it. Shortly afterwards (7 February 1752), his marriage to Elisabeth-Antoinette Blanchet, daughter of the best harpsichord maker in France and a first-class professional musician, brought some 40,000 livres.