Céleste-Thérèse Couperin

[1] 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.

The assembly, in recognition of the long service of this esteemed and justly mourned artist, has nominated as his successor his daughter, Mlle.

[2] By 1843, they had moved to Belleville (now part of Paris), living in great destitution because by July 1847, Céleste-Thérèse no longer had music students and it was noted officially that she had "no profession."

When the mother and daughter needed money and sold two Couperin family portraits in 1848, they received only 500 francs for the pair.

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.