Cocktail Party Fact: The Concerts Royaux entertained Louis XIV near the end of his reign, when he was coping with two hardships: military defeat and an exceptionally pious wife.

Commitment Factor: About ten to eighteen minutes per suite

Vital Statistics: Baroque Period (1715) Four suites composed for Louis XIV’s Sunday chamber concerts. Each suite includes a prelude and several Baroque dances.

What to Listen For: The Concerts Royaux are good examples of the combination of dignity, liveliness, and sensuality that characterizes French court music. Each suite is played by a melody instrument accompanied by a harpsichord and a bowed, cello-like instrument called the viola da gamba. The melody instrument can be a violin, a flute, an oboe, or even a bassoon. The dances include most of the Baroque dance forms. The allemande is a German dance in moderate time. The sarabande is flowing and grave. The gavotte, the musette, and the gigue are all rustic peasant dances. In the fourth suite, Couperin presents the lively dance called the Courante in two forms: the flowing Italian style and the rhythmically irregular French style.