Esprit-Joseph-Antoine Blanchard (29 February 1696 – 19 April 1770) was a French baroque composer, a contemporary of

Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of Fr ...

, and regarded as a representative composer of religious music in eighteenth-century France.Tai Wai Li ''Marc-François Bêche's collection of eleven grands motets by Esprit-Joseph-Antoine Blanchard'' 1996 Blanchard was born at Pernes in the County of

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

in 1696. His father was a physician. He was a choirboy at the Cathedral of Aix-en-Provence. He died, aged 74, at

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

Works, editions and recordings

* Eleven of his grands motets were published by Marc-François Bêche, a highly esteemed singer of the Chapelle Royale, who had sung under Blanchard his music when performed during the king's mass at Versailles. * Te Deum first performed 26 October 1744 for the recovery of the king from the Alsace campaign, but rededicated 12 May 1745 for the victory at the

Battle of Fontenoy The Battle of Fontenoy was a major engagement of the War of the Austrian Succession, fought on 11 May 1745 near Tournai in modern Belgium. A French army of 50,000 under Marshal Saxe defeated a Pragmatic Army of roughly the same size, led by th ...

1745 as ''Cantique d'action de grâces pour les conquêtes de Louis XV''. * ''In Exitu Israël'' composed April 1749 for the Chapelle Royale and given again at the

Concert Spirituel The Concert Spirituel ( en, Spiritual Concert) was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in Paris in 1725 and ended in 1790. Later, concerts or series of concerts of the same name occurred in Paris, Vienna, Londo ...

in 1763. Restored in 2003 by Michel Lefèvre and recorded 2004 by his Ensemble Jubilate de Versailles. * 46 Motets conserved at the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanchard, Esprit 1696 births 1770 deaths French Baroque composers French male composers 17th-century male musicians