Biography
Jacques Aubert (1689–1753), also known as Jacques Aubert le Vieux (Jacques Aubert the Elder), was a French composer and violinist.
Aubert was born on 30th September 1689 in Paris and became a student of Jean Baptiste Senaillé. His first position was as violinist in the service of the Prince of Condé. Thereafter he was a member of the Vingt-quatre Violons du Roy. By 1717. Aubert was known as a dancing-master, violinist, and composer, working at the Théâtres de la Foire, and had written the music for at least five ballets and comedies. In 1719 he married Marie Louise Lecat.
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That same year he published his first book of violin sonatas and was appointed to the service of Louis-Henri, Duke of Bourbon and Prince of Condé. In this capacity he composed a Fête royale and a Ballet des XXIV heures for the duke’s entertainment when the young Louis XV passed through Chantilly to Reims in 1722; Aubert played the violin in the role of Orpheus in the latter work.
In 1727 Aubert succeeded Noël Converset in the Vingt-quatre Violons du Roi, remaining a member until 1746, and in the next year he accepted a position with the Académie Royale de Musique and was named first violinist of the Opéra orchestra, with which he performed for the next twenty-four years. He made his début at the Concert Spirituel in 1729, and often played there until 1740.
He regularly and successfully appeared for a dozen years beginning in 1729 at the Concert Spirituel with, among other works, concertos for violin and orchestra of his own composition.
Together with Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville and Jean-Marie Leclair, Aubert brought the zest of Italian violin virtuosity into the French musical fare of their time. He died on 19th May 1753 in Belleville.
His son Jean-Louis Aubert (1731–1814) was a dramatist, poet, and journalist, also known as the Abbé Aubert.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.