Michel L'Affilard (c.1656-1708) was a French tenor and the writer of a notable book on singing.

Biography

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L'Affilard sang in the choir of Louis XIV from 1683 to 1708, with a salary of 900 livres. He also composed airs de cour.

L'Affilard's work on sight-singing, Principes trés faciles pour bien apprendre la musique, passed through seven editions (Paris, 1691; Amsterdam, 1717). In it, the tempo of the airs is regulated by Joseph Sauveur's pendulum, the precursor of the metronome. The book has become an important source on music practice of the time.[1] A facsimile edition was produced in Geneva in 1971, ISBN 2-8266-0349-3.

Notes

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  1. ^ Erich Schwandt (July 1974). "L'Affilard on the French Court Dances". The Musical Quarterly. 60 (3): 389–400. doi:10.1093/mq/lx.3.389.

References

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