Joseph Bodin de Boismortier born December 23, 1689) in Thionville, France) was a French baroque composer of instrumental music in addition to cantatas, ballet-operas, and other vocal music. His first works appeared in Paris, in 1724, and by 1747 he had published more than 100 works in a variety of vocal and instrumental combinations.
Boismortier received his musical education in Metz from Joseph Valette de Montigny. The family moved to Perpignan in 1713, where Boismortier found employment in the Royal Tobacco Control. Here he started publishing music, an act which began to earn him a reputation in Paris. In 1724, Boismortier and his wife Marie Vallete, moved to Paris where he began a prodigious composition career, writing for many instruments and voices.
His music, particularly for the voice, was extremely popular, and he became rich without the aid of patrons. Boismortier was the first French composer to use the Italian concerto form. He also wrote the first French solo concerto for any instrument, a concerto for cello, viol, or bassoon (1729). Much of his music is for the flute, for which he also wrote an instruction method (now lost). A notable piece of his still often performed is Deuxieme Serenade Ou Simphonie. and the violinist Jean-Marie Leclair the elder (1697-1764) cultivated both solo and trio genres with charm although with less profundity. Boismortier and Rameau who both lived during the Rococo era of Louis XV continued the French tradition of beauty and sophistication of a music understandable and desired by everybody.
Major works include Cinquante-neuvieme Ouvre de M.Boismortier, Contenant Quatre Suites de Pieces de Clavecin and the opera ballets "Les Voyages de l'Amour" and "Daphnis & Chloe".
Joseph Bodin de Boismortier died on October 28, 1755.
