(fl Paris, 1690–1719/20). French music dealer and publisher. It is not known whether he was related to earlier publishers with the same family name, none of whom was apparently involved in music printing. Like other 18th-century music dealers, Henri Foucault was associated with the corporation of haberdashers and jewellers rather than that of the booksellers. He was originally a paper seller, with a shop ‘A la règle d’or’, rue St Honoré, but seems to have branched out from this trade by 28 June 1690, when a condemnation issued by the Conseil d’Etat accused him – in association with the engraver Henri de Baussen – of contravening Christophe Ballard’s royal privilege by publishing ‘divers airs de musique’. Two years later Foucault’s name appears on the title-page of Marais’s Pièces en trio pour les flûtes, violons et dessus de viole, in association with Hurel, Bonneüil and the composer, but he is still designated simply as ‘marchand papetier’. However by ...
