Charles Fleury, Sieur de Blancrocher (c. 1605 – November 1652) was a French

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

nist. Known principally under the name Blancrocher (''Blanrocher'', ''Blancheroche''), he was one of the leading performers of his day, active in Paris. Whether he composed or not is unknown; a single dance movement survives, attributed to him, in the so-called Manuscrit Vaudry de Saizenay. His name became well known in the late 20th century, for after his sudden death (he fell down a flight of stairs) as many as four major composers wrote ''

tombeau A tombeau (plural tombeaux) is a musical composition (earlier, in the early 16th century, a poem) commemorating the death of a notable individual. The term derives from the French word for "tomb" or "tombstone". The vast majority of tombeaux date ...

x'' in his memory: lutenists

Denis Gaultier Denis Gaultier (''Gautier'', ''Gaulthier''; also known as Gaultier le jeune and Gaultier de Paris) (1597 or 1602/3 – 1672) was a French lutenist and composer. He was a cousin of Ennemond Gaultier. Life Gaultier was born in Paris; two conflict ...

and François Dufaut, and

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

ists

Louis Couperin Louis Couperin (; – 29 August 1661) was a French Baroque composer and performer. He was born in Chaumes-en-Brie and moved to Paris in 1650–1651 with the help of Jacques Champion de Chambonnières. Couperin worked as organist of the C ...

and

Johann Jakob Froberger Johann Jakob Froberger ( baptized 19 May 1616 – 7 May 1667) was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. Among the most famous composers of the era, he was influential in developing the musical form of the suite of dances in h ...

. The latter witnessed Blancrocher's death, and the lutenist apparently died in Froberger's arms. He was the son of Louis, Valet de chambre du roi, and Mathurine de Vallois (+1625). He left six children underage. His son Charles married Anne de Franchere or de Fransure in 1633.

Tombeaux on Blancrocher's death

* Louis Couperin: ''Tombeau de Monsieur Blancrocher'' (in the

Bauyn manuscript The Bauyn manuscript is a manuscript currently in possession of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris (catalogue number Rés. Vm7 674–675). It is, along with several printed collections and the Parville manuscript, one of the most i ...

) * François Dufaut: ''Tombeau de Monsieur Blancrocher'' * Johann Jakob Froberger: FbWV 632 — Tombeau in C minor (''Tombeau fait à Paris sur la mort de Monsieur Blancrocher'') * Denis Gaultier: ''Tombeau de Monsieur Blancrocher'' (also known as ''Andromède'', an allemande in A major from ''La Rhetorique des dieux'')

References

* * ''La vie des musiciens de Paris sous Mazarin, p.127-129'' by

Catherine Massip Catherine Massip (born 12 May 1946 in Paris) is a French curator of libraries and musicologist. Biography A student of the École nationale des chartes, Massip obtained there her archivist palaeographer diploma in 1973 with a thesis entitled '' ...

1976 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleury, Charles 1652 deaths French lutenists Year of birth uncertain