Robert Ballard II (c.1572 or 1575 – after 1650) was a prominent French

lutenist 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 refe ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. Probably born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, his father, Robert Ballard Senior (c.1527–1588) was the head of the well-known music publishers "Le Roy & Ballard", founded in 1551 with cousin

Adrian Le Roy Adrian Le Roy (c.1520–1598) was an influential French music publisher, lutenist, mandore player, guitarist, composer and music educator. Life Le Roy was born in the town of Montreuil-sur-Mer in northern France to a wealthy family. Very little ...

(a notable virtuoso lutenist and composer of the period).Classical Archives
"Adrian Le Roy" by Robert Cummings (All Music Guide). From 1612 he entered the service of the French Regent

Maria de Medici Marie de' Medici (french: link=no, Marie de Médicis, it, link=no, Maria de' Medici; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV of France of the House of Bourbon, and Regent of the Kingd ...

and was tutor to the young King

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

, becoming a lutenist and composer ("Musicien ordinaire du roi") at the royal court in 1618. He published two books of

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 ...

works: ''Premier Livre de tablature de luth'' (1611) and ''Diverses Pièces mises sur le luth'' (1614).

References

External links

Lute Tablature Wayne Cripps archive.Lute Tablature Sarge Gerbode archive.

Performance links

Courante
(Lute)
Courante
(Guitar)
Bransles de Village
(Lute) 1570s births 17th-century deaths 17th-century classical composers French Baroque composers Composers for lute French lutenists French classical musicians French male classical composers 17th-century male musicians {{France-composer-stub