Born at
Blois and baptised there on 24 February 1587, he was made master of the children within the musical household of the
Chambre du roi in 1613. He rose to be the queen's music master in 1617 and secretary to the
Chambre du roi in 1620, and finally
surintendant of the musical household of the
Chambre du roi in 1623 – in the last of these roles he succeeded Guédron (
surintendant under
Henry IV and Louis XIII), whose daughter he married in 1613. In 1632 he was
conseiller and ''
maître d'hôtel ordinaire du roi.'' He then held all these posts simultaneously until his death. At the court he got to know
Descartes,
Mersenne and
Huygens. Around 1640 Mersenne arranged a contest between Boësset and the Dutch Catholic priest
Joan Albert Ban to set
Germain Habert's poem "Me veux-tu voir mourir", but altered the poem's first line and thus its sense in the copy sent to Boësset – this influenced the setting and allowed Boësset to easily win the competition (Mersenne had already criticised Ban's work as boring and trivial). Boësset was also one of the forerunners of the
basso continuo in France. He died in Paris in 1643. ==Works==