Jean-Benjamin François de la Borde (5 September 1734 – 22 July 1794) was a French composer, writer on music and '' fermier général'' (farm tax collector). Born into an aristocratic family, he studied violin under

Antoine Dauvergne Antoine Dauvergne (3 October 1713 – 11 February 1797) was a French composer and violinist. Dauvergne was born in Moulins, Allier. He served as master of the ''Chambre du roi'', director of the Concert Spirituel from 1762 to 1771, and direc ...

and composition under

Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and 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 French opera ...

. From 1762 to 1774, he served at the court of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...

as '' premier valet de la chambre'', losing his post on the death of the king. He wrote many operas, mostly comic, and a four-volume collection of songs for solo voice, ''Choix de chansons mises en musique'' illustrated by Jean-Michel Moreau. Many of the songs from the collection were later published individually through the efforts of the English folksong collector Lucy Etheldred Broadwood. His ''Essai sur la musique ancienne et moderne'' was published in 1780. La Borde was guillotined during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

in 1794.CESAR (Calendrier électronique des spectacles sous l'ancien régime et sous la révolution)
Jean-Benjamin de La Borde
Retrieved 2 November 2013 .Rogal, Samuel J. (ed.) (2002)
''The Rushton M. Dorman, Esq. Library Sale Catalogue (1886): The Study of the Dispersal of a Nineteenth-century American Private Library''
Volume 1, p. 456. Edwin Mellen Press

Operas

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:La Borde, Jean-Benjamin de French male classical composers French opera composers Male opera composers French ballet librettists 1734 births 1794 deaths Musicians from Paris Music historians French people executed by guillotine during the French Revolution 18th-century classical composers Fermiers généraux 18th-century French composers 18th-century French male musicians Writers about music