Joseph-François Salomon

Joseph-François Salomon (Toulon, 1649 – Versailles, 1732) was a French composer and organist who spent much of his career at the court of Louis XIV. According to some accounts, he was a master of the viola da gamba and had been a pupil of Sainte-Colombe, although no further details of that training are known.

His early training took place at the metropolitan cathedral of Saint-Sauveur in Aix-en-Provence, where he was a chorister from 1657 and later a subdeacon (1666) and organist (1669), when G. Poitevin was maître de chapelle. In 1671 he abandoned the ecclesiastical career and left Aix. From 1679 he was in the service of the court at Versailles as harpsichordist and organist to Queen Maria Theresa and, from 1713 (perhaps already from 1706) until 1720 or 1727, he played the viola da gamba in the royal chamber. In 1683 he took part in the competition called by Louis XIV to fill the post of sous-maître of the royal chapel, and he reached the second round.

His operas Medée et Jason and Théonoé follow the tradition of Lully and Campra, while his published motets reflect the influence of Bernier's Italianate style. In 1750 he was maître de chapelle at the cathedral of Cahors, and a Magnificat and a motet by him survive. A De profundis and an In te Domine speravi are also attributed to him, although this attribution is doubtful and they are usually assigned to Joseph-François.