Colasse, Pascal

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Colasse, Pascal

Colasse, Pascal, French composer; b. Rheims, Jan. 22, 1649; d. Versailles, July 17, 1709. He was a pupil of Lully, who entrusted him with writing out the parts of his operas from the figured bass and melody. Later Colasse was accused of appropriating scores thrown aside by his master as incomplete. In 1683 he was appointed Master of the Music, and in 1696 royal chamber musician. He was a favorite of Louis XIV, and obtained the privilege of producing operas at Lille, but the theater burned down. His opera Polyxène et Pyrrhus (1706) failed, and his mind became disordered. Of ten operas, Les Noces de Thetys et Pelée (1689) was his best. He also composed songs, sacred and secular.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire