Édouard Du Puy

Jean Baptiste Édouard Louis Camille Du Puy (17703 April 1822) was a Principality of Neuchâtel-born singer, composer, director, and violinist. He lived and worked in Copenhagen and Stockholm from 1793 until his death in 1822. Early years Édouard Du Puy was born in Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Principality of Neuchâtel, around the year 1770, although sources differ on the exact year. From the age of four, he was raised by his uncle, a city musician in Geneva, Republic of Geneva. Edouard later took the last name of this uncle. Seeing that his nephew had talent, the uncle made sure that Edouard received a musicial education. In 1786, Du Puy was sent to Paris, where he was taught to play the piano by Jan Ladislav Dussek, and the violin by François Chabran. In 1789, he was appointed concertmaster at the court of Heinrich of Prussia in Rheinsberg, replacing J. A. P. Schulz, who was called to Denmark as a choir director at the Royal Danish Orchestra (Danish: Det Kongelige Kapel). Du Puy worked in Rheinsberg for four years while studying harmonies under Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch. Stockholm and Copenhagen Still in his early twenties, in 1793 Du Puy traveled throughout the Holy Roman Empire,