Guillaume Dumanoir

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(b Paris, bap. 16 Nov 1615; d Paris, 18 May 1697). French violinist, composer and dancing-master. He was the son of Mathias Dumanoir (b c1588; d April 1646), joueur d'instruments in Paris and, from 1640, member of the 24 Violons du Roi. In 1636 Guillaume was appointed dancing-master at the Orange court in The Hague. A guild member of the Confrérie de St Julien-des-Ménétriers, Paris, and a violon ordinaire de la chambre du roi, he joined the grande bande of the 24 Violons du Roi in 1639 and from 1645 to 1656 was also dancing-master to the pages in the petite écurie. In 1654 he left the grande bande but in 1655 was reinstated, as leader of the group, and from that date his name appears as an active participant in performances of ballets at court. In 1657 he succeeded Louis Constantin as roi et maître des ménestriers for all of France, a post in which he served until 1668. His reign as roi was a difficult one; his authority was continually contested by members of the guild and especially by a group of dancers who withdrew from the Confrérie St Julien in 1661 and established an Académie de Dance, thereby proclaiming themselves independent. His response to this move was Le mariage de la musique avec la dance (Paris, 1664; ed. J. Gallay, Paris, 1870), in which he forcefully criticized the new academy and argued the dependence of dance on music. His surviving music largely reflects the repertory of instrumental dances played by the 24 Violons at court. It is scored for a four- or fi

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