Louis Marchand

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Louis Marchand

Louis Marchand (February 2, 1669 – February 17, 1732) was a virtuoso organist and harpsichordist.

Marchand was born in Lyon. At the age of thirty-one, he became "Organist to the King". He was known for his flamboyant nature both personally and musically, and took Paris by storm when he arrived there from Lyon. By nature he was said to be a difficult and unreliable person, but he was nevertheless known by many as "Marchand le Grand". One surviving anecdote about him states that, while on tour in Dresden, he agreed to a musical competition with Johann Sebastian Bach, but left the city shortly before the competition was set to begin. Many said that he had fled out of fear of being shown up by Bach, but no conclusive proof of this exists.

A more reliable account of Marchand does indeed survive, and indicates the boldness of his manner. After Marchand's wife had left him, the king ordered him to pay half of his salary to her. As a result of that, an enraged Marchand broke off in the middle of one of his concerts and, before the entire assembled court, told the king that if his wife was receiving half of his salary she should come and play the rest of the concert.

Despite Marchand's success and popularity in his day, only a few airs and cantatas, plus two harpsichord suites (1702) were published. A third book of harpsichord pieces, made of 14 entries (12 in c minor, 2 in C major) and attributed to Louis Marchand for its largest part, has been discovered in France in 2003. Marchand died in Paris.