Hotteterre, Jacques
Hotteterre, Haulteterre, Hauterre, Hautetère, Hoterre, Obterre, Opterre and others, Jean, *ca. 1605 La Couture-Boussey (Normandy), †ca. 1691, French musician and woodwind instrument maker.
After qualifying as a master turner in his father Loys de Haulteterre’s workshop, he moved to Paris between 1630 and 1632, where he worked as an instrumentalist and instrument maker. Between 1650 and 1667, he was a member of Louis XIV’s Musique de la Grande Ecurie. He crafted recorders, flageolets, bagpipes (musettes), crumhorns and other woodwind instruments, which were highly regarded by his contemporaries (P. Borjon de Scellery, Traité de la musette, 1672). Around 1659, he built (perhaps with J.D. Philidor) an oboe with a three-piece construction, a design still in use today. In 1664, Hotteterre purchased a house in Evreux ‘under the Anchor’, which became the hallmark of instruments from his workshop. The last instrument dated by him comes from 1689.
Jean’s brother, Louis (*before 1670, La Couture-Boussey), was a merchant (he probably sold musical instruments), whilst Louis’s son, Jean (*c. 1648, †1732, Paris), was a distinguished instrument maker and musician at the royal court in Paris, and from 1683 – a member of the famous ensemble Grands Hautbois du Roi. Jean’s second brother, Nicolas (*1693), also a turner, worked in Paris, running an instrument-making workshop from 1660 together with his three sons: Nicolas, known as l’Ainé (*c. 1637, †10 May 1694 Versailles) resided in Paris from 1657, a member of the Grands Hautbois du Roi from 1666, and a bassoonist with the Chapelle Royale from 1668; Louis (*between 1645–50, †July 1716 Ivry) a member of the Grands Hautbois du Roi from 1665; Nicolas, known as Colin or le Jeune (baptised 19 February 1653, † 14 December 1727, Paris) was a member of the Grands Hautbois du Roi from 1667 to 1727.