Jacques Duphly, 1715-1789: he was born the year of the death of Louis XIV and he died the year of the storming of the Bastille – two important dates in French history. Armand Louis Couperin also died in 1789, the year that signalled the end of the harpsichord: seen as an attribute of the aristocracy, such instruments were even burned in the Place de Grève. Duphly’s life was discreet, with relatively few outstanding features, and music history took little notice of him.