Jean-François Lesueur

Born Feb. 15, 1760, in Drucet-Plessiel, near Abbeville; died Oct. 6, 1837, in Paris. French composer, chapelmaster, and writer. Member of the Institut de France (1813).

Lesueur was a choir director and in 1786 was appointed chapelmaster at Nôtre-Dame in Paris. He was a professor (1793) and then inspector at the National Institute of Music (from 1795, the Paris Conservatory). During the Great French Revolution he composed choral songs and odes for mass festivals, including “Song of the Triumphs of the French Republic.” As first consul, Napoleon made Lesueur chapelmaster at his court.

In 1818, Lesueur returned to the conservatory, where his students included Berlioz, Gounod, and A. Thomas. Lesueur composed nine operas, including La Caverne (1793), an example of the “opera of salvation” genre.