Les Barricades Mystérieuses

Les Barricades Mystérieuses (The Mysterious Barricades) is a 1717 piece for harpsichord by François Couperin. It is the fifth piece in the VIth Ordre de Clavecin in B Flat Major from his second book of collected harpsichord pieces Pièces de Clavecin. The work is in rondo form and has four parts. There has been much speculation as to the meaning of the phrase "mysterious barricades", but no evidence has arisen to support any theory. The piece has been used in different artistic fields including music, visual arts, and literature. Some artists have simply used the title, while others have created new works inspired by the original.

François Couperin (1668 – 1733) was a French Baroque composer, organist, and harpsichordist. He was known as "Couperin le Grand" ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented Couperin family. Couperin's four volumes of harpsichord music (from 1713, 1717, 1722, and 1730) contain over 230 pieces, which can be played on solo harpsichord or performed as small chamber works. These volumes were admired by J.S. Bach, as well as Maurice Ravel, who composed a masterpiece called Le tombeau de [François] Couperin (The Tomb of [François] Couperin). Many of Couperin's keyboard pieces have been likened to miniature tone poems, and were adapted for orchestra by Richard Strauss. Johannes Brahms's piano music was influenced by the keyboard music of François Couperin.

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