Nicolas Lebègue
1631 — 1702
Nicolas-Antoine Lebègue was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was born in Laon and in the 1650s settled in Paris, quickly establishing himself as one of the best organists of the country. He lived and worked in Paris until his death, and frequently made trips to other cities to consult on organ building and maintenance matters. Lebègue’s reputation today rests on his keyboard music. He made particularly important contributions to the development of the French organ school by devising pieces with independent pedal parts and developing the Tierce en taille genre. His oeuvre also includes the earliest published unmeasured preludes, as well as some of the earliest known noëls.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Nicolas Lebègue.
From the period sources
Nicolas-Antoine Lebègue, who served as a court organist in Paris, published several sets of organ pieces, according to the Dictionary of Music (1896). Beyond his contributions to organ repertoire, he also issued clavecin or pianoforte pieces. His published works further include “Airs” for two to three voices with continuo, as noted in A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (1900).