Born in Paris, in 1635, Jean Henry Danglebert became the chief keyboard player in the service of Louis XIV, the Sun King, and laid the groundwork for many of the triumphant achievements of François Couperin in the early eighteenth century. In 1689, Danglebert published the first book of his Pièces de clavecin. In his harpsichord music, he forges dense counterpoint and a precise system of embellishments into an elegant, albeit somewhat exceedingly elaborate, idiom. Typically for the period, his harpsichord suites include unmeasured, quasi-improvisatory preludes and all kinds of dances. His celebrated Tombeau de Monsieur Chambonnières pays homage to his predecessor at the court, Jacques Champion de Chambonnières, the first important French exponent of solo harpsichord performance. Several small organ pieces by Danglebert are also extant; these works provide a welcome glimpse into the playing of the period. Danglebert died in 1691.