Background
He and his father-in-law Pierre Guédron dominated the court"s musical life for the first half of the 17th century under Louis XIII.
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Antoine Boesset
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Career
Born at Blois and baptised there on 24 February 1587, he was made master of the children within the musical household of the Chambre du roi in 1613. In 1632 he was conseiller and maître d"hôtel ordinaire du roi. He then held all these posts simultaneously until his death.
At the court he got to know Descartes, Mersenne and Huygens.
Boësset was also one of the forerunners of the basso continuo in France. He died in Paris.
Achievements
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Around 1640 Mersenne arranged a contest between Boësset and the Dutch Catholic priest Joan Albert Ban to set Germain Habert"s poem "Maine veux-tu voir mourir", but altered the poem"s first line and thus its sense in the copy sent to Boësset – this influenced the setting and allowed Boësset to easily win the competition (Mersenne had already criticised Ban"s work as boring and trivial).
