Biography
Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe (c.1640-1690) was a celebrated French composer and player of the viol. He is most likely the same person as Jean de Sainte-Colombe, and father to Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe le fils.
He is known only through a handful of contemporary references, one of which attributes to him the innovation of adding a seventh (AA) string to the bass viol. He is presumed to have been of the Lyonnaise or Burgundian petty nobility. Although unconnected with the royal court, by 1680 he was widely regarded as a master of his art.
Among his students were the Sieur de Danoville, author of a treatise L'Art de toucher le Dessus et Basse de Violle (Paris 1687), Desfontaines, Marin Marais, Méliton, and Jean Rousseau, who stated that Sainte-Colombe "perfected" the art of viol playing. Marais wrote Tombeau pour Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, published in 1701, for him.
Sainte-Colombe presumably also taught his own children: he is said to have given concerts at his home at which he and his two daughters played in consort (du Tillet, 1732). Among his surviving works are sixty-seven Concerts à deux violes esgales, for two bass viols, and solo viol pieces (which may or may not represent fully finished works).
In 1991, Alain Corneau made a film inspired by Sainte-Colombe's life, Tous les matins du monde, with Jean-Pierre Marielle as Sainte-Colombe and Gérard Depardieu as Marin Marais.
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