Berton, Pierre-Montan (1727, Paris; 1780, Paris), composer, read music with complete ease at the age of six and wrote motets played at the cathedral of Senlis when he was 12. After spending a few years in the choir of Notre-Dame de Paris, he moved over to the Opéra in 1744 but had to renounce his stage career as a singer in 1746 on account of his chronic shyness. He tried to sing again at Marseille for a second short interval, but he had to relinquish the idea of being a vocalist once more. He…