born 1634, Paris, France
died Feb. 24, 1704, Paris
French composer.
He was a student of Giacomo Carissimi in Rome in the 1660s. Back in Paris, he succeeded Jean-Baptiste Lully as music director with Molière 's acting troupe (later the Comédie-Française ). He became music director at the principal Jesuit church in Paris, and for his last six years he held the prestigious post of maître de chapelle at the Sainte-Chapelle. Enormously prolific, he was the most important French composer of his generation. He wrote 11 masses, 84 psalm settings, and 207 motets, including some 35 dramatic motets or Latin oratorios, a genre he introduced into France. His works include the oratorio Judicium Salomonis (1702), the mass Assumpta est Maria , and the operas Médée (1693) and David et Jonathas (1688).