1680–1730 · Baroque
Jean-Baptiste Loeillet of London, also known as John Loeillet, was born in Ghent on 18 November 1680 and died in London on 19 July 1730. He was a Baroque composer, harpsichordist, flautist and oboist. He wrote mainly sonatas and also put together collections of lessons for the harpsichord; the site has his Trio Sonata No. 12.
Jean-Baptiste Loeillet was born in Ghent on 18 November 1680. He studied in Ghent and in Paris; at home in Ghent he learned the oboe and the modern flute of the day in the orchestra attached to the city cathedral.
Around 1705 Loeillet moved to London, where he came to be called John Loeillet. He had a cousin and namesake, also Jean-Baptiste Loeillet, from Ghent. To keep the two apart, the musician in London took the name "of London". He also had a younger brother, Jacques, who was a composer too.
In London Loeillet worked as an oboist at the theatre in Drury Lane and later became first oboist of Her Majesty's Theatre. He played the recorder, flute, oboe and harpsichord. He helped to make the transverse flute known in England; next to the recorder it was then a new instrument.
Loeillet was a successful teacher of the harpsichord. Every week he held musical evenings at his house. His playing was well received in London, and it was he who introduced Londoners to the twelve Concerti grossi of Arcangelo Corelli.
Loeillet's music was brought out in London by John Walsh, under the name John Loeillet. A volume of lessons for the harpsichord came out in 1712, and from 1722 to 1729 several volumes of sonatas followed. He published trio sonatas and sonatas for a soloist, as well as two books of harpsichord lessons.
In England Loeillet sometimes wrote his surname as Luly or Lullie. Because of this he was at times mistaken for Jean Baptiste Lully, the French composer of Italian birth. The collection Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinet was even credited to Lully by mistake. Loeillet died in London on 19 July 1730.
Loeillet wrote chiefly sonatas in the Baroque style. They have between four and six movements, for one or three voices above a basso continuo. Across his three volumes of sonatas the solo instruments are the flute, recorder, oboe and violin.
His 12 Trio Sonatas are dedicated to the third Duke of Rutland, John Manners. For the harpsichord Loeillet put together the collections Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinet (1712) and 6 Suites of Lessons for the Harpsichord (1723).
You can begin getting to know Loeillet with Trio Sonata No. 12 (Op. 2), which the site rates at intermediate plus level.