Quinault, Jean-Baptiste Maurice
(†1744)> COMPOSER
Quinault, Jean-Baptiste Maurice (?, Paris; 1744, Gien), composer, was known as the elder Quinault, but only scant information about his birth and death has been recorded. He was involved principally with the Comédie-Française, where he made his debut as Hippolyte in Racine’s Phèdre in 1712; so many members of his family belonged to this troupe that Voltaire referred to them as “the Quinault tribe.” Jean-Baptiste Maurice Quinault was a competent musician as well as an actor, and he sang in…