Description du Parnasse François, exécuté en bronze - Titon du Tillet, Évrard 1677-1762 (Paris Coignard, 1727)
biographical chronicle, composed of brief anecdotal vite of famous French poets and musicians of his time, under the reign of Louis XIV and the Régence
Titon du Tillet had the privilege of receiving the celebrities of his time, and from 1708 he was at work on an imposing project: to create a garden surrounding a monument, "the French Parnassus" (Le Parnasse françois), celebrating the glory of French poets and musicians under the reign of Louis XIV. The monument was to represent Mount Parnassus, ornamented with laurels and myrtle, with Louis XIV in the figure of Apollo at the summit, playing the lyre. The expected expenditure, estimated at nearly two million livres, forced him to terminate the project. He then decided to carry the project out to some extent in a virtual form: he published in 1727, "a Description of the Parnasse François" followed by "an alphabetical List of the Poets and Musicians gathered on this monument". In 1732, he published a second edition and increased the notes on the lives of the poets and musicians. Two further supplements were published in 1743 and 1755. This collection constitutes an invaluable source of biographical information for the mysterious Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, Marin Marais, Louis Couperin, Michel Richard Delalande, Nicolas Bernier and other celebrated poets and musicians.
Ex libris E.V... (plate with manuscript name)
Suivie d'une Liste Alphabetique des Poëtes, & des Musiciens rassemblés sur ce Monument.
Keywords: 18th Century (1701-1800); Music history; Literature; Fine art; France; Boileau, N; bespelen van meer instrumenten; Charpentier, M.A.; Colasse; Corneille, P; Couperin, L; Delalande, M; Desmarets, J; dichteres; Perrault, C; Quinault, P; Racine, J; Fontaine, J. de la; Gaultier; Voiture, V; Ronsard, P; Lambert, M; schilderes; Lully; Boyvin; Le Bègue; Molière; Philbert; Tomelin