La Houssaye, Pierre (-Nicolas)
La Houssaye, Pierre (-Nicolas)
La Houssaye, Pierre (-Nicolas), French violinist, conductor, and composer; b. Paris, April 11, 1735; d. there, 1818. He studied violin with J.-A. Piffet, then with Pagin (from 1750), and finally with Tartini in Padua (1753). He was briefly a member of the court musical entourage of the infante Dom Philippe in Parma, where he studied composition with Traetta. After working as a violinist and conductor in various Italian music centers, he went to London about 1768. By 1776 he was back in Paris, where he served as concertmaster and conductor of the Concert Spirituel (1777–81) and of the orch. of the Comédie-Italienne (1781–90); subsequently he was co-concertmaster and conductor of the orch. of the Théâtre de Monsieur (later Théâtre Feydeau) from 1790, being sole retainer of those posts from 1792 to 1801. From 1795 to 1802 he also taught at the Cons., and then was a violinist in the orch. of the Opéra and a private teacher until 1813. His last years were marked by poverty. La Houssaye publ. an accomplished vol. of Sei sonate for Violin and Bass (Paris, c. 1774). Also extant is his comic opera Les Amours de Courcy (Paris, Aug. 22, 1790).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire