Antoine Forqueray (1671-1745) was a renowned composer and performer on the viol da gamba-- the most popular bowed instrument family in Europe before advent of the violin family, and one that retained its primacy in France long after that was lost elsewhere. During the French Regency he was one of two gambists considered the finest in his nation, the being Marin Marais; and while Marais was especially noted for his beautiful tone, Forqueray excelled in writing very difficult, note-heavy passages. This led writer and gambist Hubert Le Blanc to coin the witticism, "Marais plays like an angel, and Forqueray plays like the devil."

By all contemporary accounts Forqueray possessed arrogant and stubborn temperament, and was physically abusive to his family. Court records exist of disputes between he and his wife, and his (successful) attempt to have one of his sons imprisoned. Upon his death, that son, Jean-Baptiste, published 32 works of his both in the original viol da gamba form and in expertly done arrangements for harpsichord. He wrote of having approximately 300 compositions of his father in an obituary, but nothing else was published, or discovered of the material after Jean-Baptiste's death. 

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