David, Jacques
- Catherine Gas-Ghidina
Extract
(b Beauce, c1680; dc1760). French composer and music teacher. David studied music and composition with Nicolas Bernier between 1694 and 1698. From 1701 to 1706, he was chief of music for Philip V of Spain, and moved to Lyon in 1710, where he earned an excellent reputation. He also served as “maître de musique” for the Prince of Monaco (1715–17), and was director at the Académie des Beaux-Arts at Lyon (1717–26). In this city he wrote most of his works, directed the music for ordinary events and visits by dignitaries, and instituted in 1737 the Concert Spirituel. The same year, David wrote Méthode Nouvelle […], a tutor for music and singing that is unique evidence of his work as a composer and music director still known in 1760. David evolved as a musician in the cosmopolitan cities of Paris and Lyon, mixing with the cities’ illustrious musicians and befriending Jean-Jacques Rousseau, even advising the latter on his first opera ...
