Philipp Franz Le Sage de Richée

Philipp Franz Le Sage de Richée was a lutenist and composer of French origin, active in German-speaking lands at the end of the seventeenth century. His reputation rests chiefly on a single surviving publication, which leaves much of his life in obscurity; the dates attributed to him are approximate, as documentary evidence for him dates only from around 1695.

According to some accounts, he was a pupil of Charles Mouton. In 1695 he appears to have been in the service of Baron von Neidhardt in Breslau. As an aristocrat, he was presumably well travelled and familiar with the lute repertoire of Bohemia, Austria and France, although no detailed documentary record of these journeys survives.

His surviving work is the Cabinet der Lauten, a collection of ninety-eight pieces written in French lute tablature and grouped into twelve suites. It contains preludes, allemandes, courantes, sarabandes, gigues, gavottes, minuets, bourrées, chaconnes, passacaglias, overtures and rondeaux. Although the preface cites Dufaut, Mouton, Losy and Gaultier, it does not specify which of them he follows. Only one piece is attributed to Losy; the rest are considered probably his own.

His legacy rests on this collection, rarely cited in manuscript sources but carefully presented, which suggests the esteem he enjoyed in his own time.