Lalouette, Jean Francois
Lalouette, Jean Francois
Lalouette, Jean Francois, French composer; b. Paris, 1651; d. there, Aug. 31, 1728. He studied at the choir school of St. Eustache in Paris, and then with Guy Ledere (violin) and Lully (composition). He became Lully’s secretary and was charged with composing the inner parts of the scores to Lully’s tragédies lyriques, including Isis (1677). Lalouette’s vanity led him to claim that he had composed the finest portion of this work, but his plan to ill-gotten glory backfired: when the score was viewed as a slander upon the King’s mistress, Lully made Lalouette the scapegoat and dismissed him from his entourage. After serving as composer and director of the band of violins at the Savoy court in Turin (1678–79), Lalouette returned to Paris to oppose Lully’s monopoly on operatic productions by organizing his own operatic enterprise. The authorities closed his venture down forthwith, however, and he remained a figure in disgrace until serving as choirmaster of Rouen Cathedral (1693–95). Returning to Paris, he finally won recognition as choirmaster of Notre Dame (1700-16; 1718-27). Among his works were motets (1726), a Miserere (1726), and a Mass (publ. in Paris, 1744).
—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire