1. Henri Desmarets was a French composer of the Baroque period primarily known for his stage works, although he composed sacred music as well as secular cantatas, songs and instrumental works.
14 Facts About Henri Desmarets
1. 2.
Henri Desmarets's father, Hugues Desmarets was a huissier in the cavalry at the Grand Chatelet.
3.
Henri Desmarets is thought to have received training from the court composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, who used the chapel pages as performers in his operas.
4.
Henri Desmarets was only 22 at the time and according to some accounts, the King had vetoed his selection after he had passed the first round on account of his youth.
5.
Henri Desmarets remained at the court and made money by "ghost-writing" works for one of the composers who had won the competition, Nicolas Goupillet.
6.
Henri Desmarets was increasingly gravitating towards stage works, but the king had granted Lully a monopoly on performances at the Academie Royale de Musique in Paris, so that operas by other composers were not presented there until after Lully died in 1687.
7.
Henri Desmarets married Elisabeth Desprez, the daughter of a Parisian blade manufacturer, in 1689, and the following year their daughter, Elisabeth-Madeleine, was born.
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Louis XV 8.
Henri Desmarets became a frequent visitor to the Saint-Gobert family in Senlis, who offered to help him take care of Elisabeth-Madeleine.
9.
Henri Desmarets flatly refused and put his daughter in a convent when he discovered that she was pregnant.
10.
Henri Desmarets in turn accused her husband of attempting to poison her.
11.
Saint-Gobert disinherited his daughter and had Henri Desmarets charged with seduction and kidnapping.
12.
Henri Desmarets left Spain in 1707 to become the master of music at the court of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine at the Chateau de Luneville.
13.
Henri Desmarets was finally pardoned by the French Regent in 1720, and his second marriage was officially recognized.
14.
Henri Desmarets applied to become the master of the Chapelle Royale at the court of Louis XV in 1726, but was unsuccessful and remained in Lorraine for the rest of his days.