Roberday François, baptised 21 March 1624 Paris, †13 October 1680 Auffargis, French composer and organist. Following in the footsteps of his father, an organ builder and goldsmith, he took up the post of royal goldsmith; from 1659, as valet de chambre de la Reine, he served successively at the courts of Queens Anne and Maria Theresa. Due to financial difficulties, he was forced to withdraw from court life and retire to Auffargis, where he died during an epidemic. He was regarded as one of J.B. Lully’s teachers and as organist at the Church of the Petits-Pères in Paris, though this is not confirmed by documentary evidence. Only one of his collections is known: Fugues, et caprices, à quatre parties (Paris 1660) for organ or viola da gamba, published as a score, containing sets of paired pieces in parts: a variation-based ricercar and a capriccio derived thematically from it. These compositions reveal clear influences from J. Titelouze, G. Frescobaldi and J.J. Froberger. The themes of Roberday’s ricercars are by, among others, F. Cavalli, R. Cambert, L. Couperin, J.B. d’Anglebert and J.J. Froberger.
Literature: P. Hardouin François Roberday, “Revue de Musicologie” XLV, 1960.
Fugues et caprices pour orgue, ed. J. Ferrard, «Le Pupitre» XLIV, Paris 1972
