Jean-Baptiste-Louis Boisselot (18 August 1782 – 21 May 1847) was the founder of the piano company Boisselot & Fils. Coming from a family of violin makers based in Montpellier around 1770, he started his business by selling scores and musical instruments, especially from 1809 on when he focused on the sale of pianos and harps abroad.

Biography

Boisselot was born in

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the department of Hérault. In 2018, 290,053 people l ...

. After opening an office in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

in 1820, Boisselot settled there in 1823 and permanently devoted his time and effort to the most important part of his business, the sale of pianos, rivalling Pape, Érard and

Pleyel Ignace Joseph Pleyel (; ; 18 June 1757 – 14 November 1831) was an Austrian-born French composer, music publisher and piano builder of the Classical period. Life Early years He was born in in Lower Austria, the son of a schoolmaster named Ma ...

. His older son Louis-Constantin (1809–1850) was sent on learning voyages to piano makers in Paris and

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 14 ...

between 1826 and 1827, and again in 1834 to extend his knowledge in England. From 1830 to 1831 he, together with his son in Marseille, perfected his own piano manufacturing, presenting from the outset experienced foremen from Germany and England. On his death in 1847, he left his two sons Louis-Constantin and Xavier Boisselot with a thriving company that sold pianos to a demanding clientele. This was also arranged by

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

himself, who played the preferred instruments of his friend and supporter Boisselot in Marseille. Following the example of his Parisian rivals, he opened the Boisselot concert hall with a concert. A grand piano built the same year by the Boisselots, was used by Liszt for several years at his

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbourin ...

residence, where most of his piano works were composed. He died in Marseille.

References

;Attribution *''This article is based on the translation of the corresponding article of the German Wikipedia. A list of contributors can be found there in the'
History
''section.'' 1782 births 1847 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century French composers 19th-century French male musicians French male classical composers French Romantic composers Musicians from Montpellier Businesspeople from Montpellier {{france-composer-stub