Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbres, which have become, through recording and concert performance, one of the most famous sacred works of 18th-century France, lacked an edition that was both reliable and practical, with an introduction, translation of the sung text, performance material, and above all a historically informed realisation of the basso continuo. The Centre de musique baroque de Versailles is therefore offering a new edition of the Leçons in two separate booklets:
- the first, presented here, contains an Urtext score, two separate parts (figured bass continuo and unfigured bass) and an edition of Couperin’s Principes d'accompagnement à l'usage des continuistes;
- the second contains a vocal score with a new realisation of the basso continuo that attempts to respect the aforementioned principles, and more generally the basso continuo treatises of the early eighteenth century.
Both contain an introduction in French and English, as well as the original Latin text with French and English translations.