Jean Baptiste Loeillet

John Loeillet (Jean Baptiste Loeillet) was a composer and musician of Flemish origin, born in Ghent, baptised in November 1680 and died in London in July 1730. He belonged to an extensive family of Belgian musicians and was the nephew of Pieter Loeillet. His career unfolded almost entirely in the English capital, to which he had moved around 1705. There he anglicised his Christian name, and his surname frequently appears phonetically transcribed as "Lullie" or "Lully". His significance lies as much in his work as a performer and teacher as in his music for keyboard and wind instruments.

Loeillet's career was built on London's musical life. In 1707 he is recorded as a member of the orchestra at the Drury Lane theatre and, a year or two later, appears as principal oboe (and also flute) in the personnel of the opera at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket. Around 1710 he began organising weekly concerts at his house in Hart Street, in Covent Garden, where, according to tradition and probably in December 1714, Corelli's concerti grossi, Op. 6, were performed in England for the first time. He is considered an outstanding harpsichord teacher, and there is a tradition, not entirely verified, that credits him with a leading role in introducing the transverse flute as a fashionable instrument in the country. In 1722 he took part, together with Handel and Croft, in the trial of a new organ at the church of St Dionis Backchurch.

His musical legacy is spread across several groups of works published in London. His nine suites for harpsichord or spinet follow the English tradition and include dances typically British in character, such as the hornpipe and the cebell; they are competent and of moderate difficulty, though they do not reach the quality of those by his contemporaries Blow and Croft. His instrumental sonatas conform to the model of the sonata da chiesa, and each instrumental grouping receives a different treatment: the sonatas for recorder and oboe are the most conventional, while those for two flutes are more innovative, with extended melodic lines and parallel thirds and sixths. The sonatas for two violins are apparently the most ambitious and recall Corelli and Vivaldi. His will, dated May 1729, reveals his ties with the family in Ghent, Munich and Bordeaux.