Michel L′Affilard

( c 1656; d ?Versailles, 1708). French composer,theorist and singer. He was a member of the Versailles royal chapel from 1683. The first composer to supply metronome indications, he is best known for his sight-singing treatise Principes très-faciles pour bien apprendre la musique (five edns.,1694-1705); the dance-songs it contains provide valuable insights on the performance and quality of movement of early 18th-century dance music.