Antoine Francisque

Antoine Francisque (c. 1570 in Saint-Quentin – 1605 in Paris) was a 16th-century French lutenist and composer. Biography Little is known of the details of Francisque’s life. Francisque was born in Saint-Quentin circa 1570. On 23 February 1596, in Cambrai, he married Marguerite Behour Bonhour , daughter of a tavern keeper. The marriage contract, registered in 1605, did not mention Francisque’s profession. He moved to Paris shortly afterwards, publishing his Le trésor d’Orphée in 1600. On 28 September 1601 he was identified as Anthoine François, a “lute player in Paris,” in a document registering a mutual beneficiary relationship between him and his wife. Works In 1600, Francisque published a unique collection of lute pieces: :: Le trésor d’Orphée, livre de tablature de luth contenant une Susane un jour, plusieurs fantaisies, préludes, passemaises, gaillardes, pavanes d’Angleterre, pavane espagnolle, fin de gaillarde, suittes de bransles tant à cordes avalées qu’austres, voltes & courantes mises par Antoine Francisque. – Paris: Pierre I Ballard, 1600. – 2°, 32 f., French tablature. The sole surviving copy of Le trésor d’Orphée is held in Paris, in the Département de la Musique of the