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François Dufaut
1600 - 1671
born in Bourges, composed during the Baroque period
Biography
General consensus dictates that French lutenist and composer François Dufault was born around 1600, though some sources postulate that his birthdate may have been as late as 1610; one contemporary chronicler notes that Dufault studied with eminent lutenist Ennemond Gaultier. Mention of Dufault isn't found until his first marriage entered a register in Paris in 1629; Dufault's first publication followed in 1631 with several pieces included in Pierre Ballard's Tablature de Luth de differens autheurs. Yet more of Dufault's pieces appeared when Ballard's publication went into a second edition in 1638 and these 20 or so compositions would be the only works of Dufault to appear in print during his lifetime. It has been suggested that Dufault may have been the unnamed French lutenist Esaias Reusner studied with in Poland between 1651 and 1654. Dufault established himself in London in the later 1650s and found a pupil in a noblewoman named Elizabeth Warwick; mention of them playing "a most excellent duet" is found in a 1665 letter from Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens. A 1672 letter from Huygens father -- the composer and diplomat Constantijn Huygens -- refers to Dufault as someone who had lately died.