François Roberday (21 March 1624 – 13 October 1680) was a French

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. One of the last exponents of the French polyphonic music tradition established by

Jean Titelouze Jean (''Jehan'') Titelouze (c. 1562/63 – 24 October 1633) was a French Catholic priest, composer, poet and organist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. He was a canon and organist at Rouen Cathedral. His style was firmly rooted ...

and

Louis Couperin Louis Couperin (; – 29 August 1661) was a French Baroque composer and performer. He was born in Chaumes-en-Brie and moved to Paris in 1650–1651 with the help of Jacques Champion de Chambonnières. Couperin worked as organist of the ...

, Roberday is best remembered today for his ''Fugues et caprices'', a collection of four-part

contrapuntal In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous Part (music), musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and Pitch contour, melodic contour. The term ...

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

pieces.

Life

He was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1624, most probably in March. His family was one of

goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), plat ...

s and musicians: his father, a renowned goldsmith, owned a

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

and François himself was the brother-in-law of Jean-Henri d'Anglebert, one of the most famous French composers and

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

ist to the King of France. After his father's death, Roberday was appointed King's goldsmith, and in 1659 he bought the job of the official manservant to the Queen. Unfortunately, Roberday's business gradually declined and by the time of his death he was quite poor. He died in 1680 in

Auffargis Auffargis () is a commune in the Yvelines department in north-central France. Population See also *Communes of the Yvelines department A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other der ...

, a village south of Paris, during an

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infection ...

. Roberday was organist of several churches in

, most notably the Notre-Dame des Victoires church and the Petits-Pères church. He was also known as a teacher and

Jean-Baptiste Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( – 22 March 1687) was a French composer, dancer and instrumentalist of Italian birth, who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he spent most of his life working in the court o ...

may have been one of his pupils.

Works

Roberday's only extant work is ''

Fugue In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...

s et caprices'', a collection of organ pieces published in 1660 in Paris.Ferrard, Jean. "Roberday, François." Grove Music Online. 2001. Oxford University Press. Date of access 1 Feb. 2024. The collection includes twelve four-voice fugues, of which numbers 1, 2, 3, 6, 8 and 9 are paired with ''caprices'', based on the subjects of their corresponding fugues, which he instructs to be played 'at discretion and very slowly'. These too feature four-part

counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...

, although slightly less complex than that in the fugues. The fugues use subjects with extensive usage of longer

note value In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration (music), duration of a note (music), note, using the texture or shape of the ''notehead'', the presence or absence of a ''stem (music), stem'', and the presence or absence of ''flags ...

s, which are modified in the caprices to better suit their fast tempi. Many of the pieces feature multiple sections, with a few double fugues and some variation fugues present. The collection shows considerable

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

influence and many of the pieces are based on themes from miscellaneous composers of the era, including

Girolamo Frescobaldi Girolamo Alessandro Frescobaldi (; also Gerolamo, Girolimo, and Geronimo Alissandro; September 15831 March 1643) was an Italian composer and virtuoso keyboard player. Born in the Duchy of Ferrara, he was one of the most important composers of ke ...

, Jean-Henri d'Anglebert,

Johann Jakob Froberger Johann Jakob Froberger ( baptized 19 May 1616 – 7 May 1667) was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. Among the most famous composers of the era, he was influential in developing the musical form of the suite of dance ...

Francesco Cavalli Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverdi as the dominant and leading op ...

and others. Some researchers (notably

Jordi Savall Jordi Savall i Bernadet (; born 1 August 1941) is a Spanish Conducting, conductor, composer and viol player. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for popularizing the viol ...

) regard ''Fugues et caprices'' as an important precursor to

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

's ''

The Art of Fugue ''The Art of Fugue'', or ''The Art of the Fugue'' (), BWV 1080, is an incomplete musical work of unspecified instrumentation by Johann Sebastian Bach. Written in the last decade of his life, ''The Art of Fugue'' is the culmination of Bach's e ...

''. Since the pieces of the collection are non-

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

, they make Roberday one of the last composers of the French polyphonic tradition.

External links

* * *Recordings of two of Roberday's pieces:
Fugue deuxième et Caprice

Fugue douzième

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberday, Francois French male classical composers French classical organists French Baroque composers 1624 births 1680 deaths Musicians from Paris 17th-century French classical composers 17th-century French male musicians French male classical organists People from the Province of Île-de-France