Céleste-Thérèse Couperin

Céleste-Thérèse Couperin (1792 or 1793

When her father died in 1826, she replaced him for a few months in the organ loft of the Saint-Gervais church, a musical assignment that had been held by members of her family for more than 170 years. She was the first woman to hold this position. The position was put to the congregation: "On 7 April 1826 - the assembly took up the nomination of an organist, the position being vacant due to the death of M. Couperin. The assembly, in recognition of the long service of this esteemed and justly mourned artist, has nominated as his successor his daughter, Mlle. Couperin, organist of the parish of Saint-Jean-Saint-François.”

In 1830, to save money, the mother and daughter left Paris for Beauvais hoping to teach music there.

Testament Pierre-Paul Lacas, musicologist and president of the Association Française pour la Sauvegarde de l'Orgue ancien (French Association for the Preservation of Historic Organs), wrote about Céleste-Thérèse Couperin:"We know that she preserved the organ traditions of the 18th century. She was one of the rare titular organists in Parisian galleries who was able to improvise an organ fugue."– Pierre-Paul Lacas