Marguerite-Louise Couperin

{{Short description|French singer and harpsichordist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}

Marguerite-Louise Couperin (1675/76 or 1678/79 in Paris – 1728 in Versailles) was a French soprano{{cite book|last=Greene |first=David Mason |title=Greene's biographical encyclopedia of composers |publisher=Reproducing Piano Roll Fnd.|year=2007 |pages=199|isbn=978-0-385-14278-6}} singer and harpsichordist, who came from the musically talented Couperin family dynasty. The Frenchman Évrard Titon du Tillet, in his 1732 book Le Parnasse françois, describes her as "one of the most celebrated musicians of our time, who sang with admirable taste and who played the harpsichord perfectly."{{cite book|last=du Tillet|first=Evrard Titon|title=Le Parnasse François, dédié au Roi|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_KjX7hZEPSsgC|year=1732|publisher=Coignard|location=Paris}}

Her music teacher was Jean-Baptiste Moreau (1656–1733).{{cite book|last=Sadie |first=Julie Anne |title=Companion to Baroque Music |publisher=Oxford University Press US|year=1998 |pages=134|isbn=0-19-816704-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rskiYf4mn7wC&pg=PA134}}

She was the cousin of the composer François Couperin (The Great){{cite book|editor-last= Randel|editor-first=Don Michael |title=The Harvard biographical dictionary of music|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1996|series=Harvard University Press reference library|pages=[https://archive.org/details/harvardbiographi00rand/page/181 181]|isbn=0-674-37299-9|url=https://archive.org/details/harvardbiographi00rand|url-access= registration|quote= Marguerite-Louise Couperin.}} and collaborated with him in performing soprano parts to his church vocal music compositions. The soprano parts written for her are exceptionally high and need great purity of tone.{{cite book|last=Mellers |first=Wilfrid |title=Francois Couperin and the French Classical Tradition |publisher=READ BOOKS|year=2007 |pages=330|isbn=978-1-4067-0684-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4KVjT47UWiQC&pg=PA330}}

The Chapelle royale did not ordinarily permit women to take part in performances, instead using falsetti and castrati male artists. Such was her talent that an exception was made in her case, and also for the two daughters of Michel Richard Delalande, Marie-Anne and Jeanne.{{cite book|last=Montagnier|first=Jean-Paul |title=Super flumina Babilonis of Recent researches in the music of the Baroque Era|publisher=A-R Editions, Inc.|year=1998|volume= 84|pages=ix|isbn=0-89579-394-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rMtp4oilb-MC&pg=PP11}}