EXAMPLE FOR ANALYSIS, No. 8.
Couperin: "Les Moissonneurs" ("The Harvesters").
This na?e and delightful piece is a good example of the prevailing style of French domestic music in the eighteenth century. It is notable for its character of elegance; it is salon music, but at the same time it reveals a certain mimetic quality common among the French. The swing of its rhythm seems to catch a little of the idea conveyed by the title. Couperin's pieces have been called "a sort of refined ballet music," and they are, as a whole, based on well defined rhythmic movement. But we may trace in them the gradual progress away from dance forms and towards a freer and more idealized expression.
Couperin was called by his contemporaries "Le Grand," and was an important figure in the musical life of Paris during the reign of Louis XIV. His influence extended beyond France; even John Sebastian Bach adopts some of his methods in writing his French suites.
"Les Moissonneurs" may be formally tabulated as follows:
FIGURE XXIII. STRUCTURAL PLAN OF COUPERIN'S "LES MOISSONEURS."
| Section | Measures | Notes |
| A |
[16]1-9 | Entirely in tonic key with pause at end. (The key is B-flat major.) |
| B | 10-14 | Modulating to the dominant and ending thereon. |
| A | 15-23 | An exact repetition of the first A. |
| C | 24-32 | Entirely in relative minor key with pause at end. |
| A | 33-41 | An exact repetition of the first A. |
| D | 42-56 | Beginning in tonic; modulating to C minor and back again. |
| A | 57-65 | An exact repetition of the first A. |
An examination of this rondo will reveal that the subsidiary portions—B. C. and D.—are episodes rather than distinct themes. Their melodies, instead of being entirely new as in the more highly developed rondos of Haydn and Mozart, are either literal copies of the chief melody, or close imitations of it, in related keys; so that the chief variety imparted by them is a variety of harmony. The plan of these harmonies should be carefully noted, particularly the use of the home key in the section marked D. This method of unifying a melody or a whole piece, by coming back to the original key at the end, embodying as it does an important ?thetic principle, has been pointed out several times already. We may say, then, that the structure of this piece is "harmonic" rather than "thematic." In all instrumental music of any consequence this harmonic element is of great importance.