Editing François-André Danican Philidor (section)

==Music career==
[[Image:Philidor Opera Paris More Bright.jpg|180 px|right|thumb|Philidor's bust on the façade of the Opera Garnier in Paris]]
Philidor joined the royal choir of [[Louis XV of France|Louis XV]] in 1732 at the age of 6, and made his first attempt at the composition of a song at the age of 11. It was said that Louis XV wanted to listen to the choir almost every day, and the singers, while waiting for the king to arrive, played chess to relieve their boredom; this may have sparked Philidor's interest in chess.

Starting in about 1740, he lived and worked in Paris as a performer, teacher and music copyist. He was the teacher of the Bohemian composer and pianist [[Ludwig Wenzel Lachnith]]. During this time he met [[Diderot]], who called him 'Philidor le subtil' in ''[[Le neveu de Rameau]]''. He spent much of the period 1745–1754 in London after a concert tour of the Netherlands collapsed, and moved in the same circles as [[Samuel Johnson|Dr Johnson]] and [[Charles Burney|Dr Burney]]. He returned to the French capital in 1754, resolving to devote himself seriously to musical composition,<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Philidor, François André Danican|volume=21|page=376}}</ref> although his music was found by some to be too Italianate (as a result of his travels). However he scored several triumphs at the fair theatres, starting with ''Blaise le savetier'' in 1759. His three most successful works were ''Le sorcier'' (1764), ''[[Tom Jones (Philidor)|Tom Jones]]'' (after [[Henry Fielding]], 1765), and ''[[Ernelinde, princesse de Norvège]]'' (1767).<ref>Rushton J. François-André Danican Philidor. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.'' Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.</ref>

For a time Philidor was among the leading opera composers in France, and during his musical career produced over 20 ''[[opéra comique|opéras comiques]]'' and two ''[[Tragédie en musique|tragédies lyriques]]''. He also wrote secular cantatas and motets.

Philidor also wrote music for [[Freemasonry|masonic]] rituals.<ref>* Hill, Cecil (1980). "Masonic music", in ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', ed. Stanley Sadie, vol. 11, 753–756</ref> The first performance of his ''Carmen Saeculare'' was performed at Freemasons' Hall in London in 1779. He was a member of the renowned Parisian Lodge ''Les Neuf Soeurs''. This Lodge had an allied society for musicians, called the ''Société Apollonienne''.<ref>* R. Cotte (1987). La Musique Maçonnique, pp 90–95</ref>