Jean-Baptiste Davaux

Jean-Baptiste Davaux (19 July 1742 – 2 February 1822) was a French classical violinist and composer. Biography Born in La Côte-Saint-André, Davaux came from a bourgeois family. His father was King’s Counselor and receiver in the salt attic. He received his first musical education from his parents. He began the violin, in addition to the mandolin. In 1767, Davaux went to Paris, where he quickly acquired a reputation as a violinist and composer. He received a number of public extra-musical appointments and, after the French Revolution, held an official position in the Ministry of War. He then received a pension and the Legion of Honour (28 September 1814) for his thirty years of service. He retired in 1816. He then lived in his home in Yvelines and half of his time in Paris where he gave private concerts. Davaux’s first publications date from 1768, two ariettes, Les charmes de la liberté and Le portrait de Climène (both lost), followed by two opéras comiques presented in 1785 and 1786: Théodore, ou Le bonheur inattendu, libretto by B.-J. Marsollier des Vivetières, after a comedy by Hugh Kelly (False Delicacy), now lost, and Cécilia, ou Les trois tuteurs based on a novel by Fanny Burn