Hubert Le Blanc was a French viol

Viol

The viol is any one of a family of bowed, fretted and stringed musical instruments developed in the mid-late 15th century and used primarily in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The family is related to and descends primarily from the Renaissance vihuela, a plucked instrument that preceded the...

 player, doctor of law and abbé

Abbé

Abbé is the French word for abbot. It is the title for lower-ranking Catholic clergymen in France....

. Strongly regretting that viol playing was falling out of fashion, he wrote the treatise Défense de la basse de viole contre les enterprises du violon et les prétentions du violoncelle, which was published in Amsterdam by Pierre Mortier in 1740.

Those who have written about him are unanimous in considering him an eccentric: his German translator (Erhard, 1951) called him "a somewhat sarcastic old gentleman"; his English translator (Jackson, 1973) said he had a "colorful and eccentric personality"; his only biographer (Fétis, 1863) tells us that when he learned that his treatise was to be published in Amsterdam, he was so transported with joy that he set off immediately (presumably from Paris), attired as he was when he received the news, in bathrobe, slippers, and nightcap. Despite his reputation for eccentricity and his purple prose, larded with mythological allusions, he provides a wealth of eyewitness information about eighteenth-century musical life. The treatise is divided into three parts.

Dissertation on pièces and sonatas

In the first part, Le Blanc associates pièces with the viol, music in the French taste, and musical poetry; he associates sonatas with the violin, music in the Italian taste, and musical prose. He discusses the viol playing of Marin Marais

Marin Marais

Marin Marais was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for 6 months. He was hired as a musician in 1676 to the royal court of Versailles...

 (1656–1728) and Antoine Forqueray

Antoine Forqueray

Antoine Forqueray was a French composer and virtuoso of the viola da gamba.Forqueray, born in Paris, was the first in a line of composers who included his brother Michel and his sons Jean-Baptiste and Nicolas Gilles...

 (c. 1671-1745) in detail, suggesting that he was old enough to have witnessed their playing in person.

The viola da gamba vs. the violin

The second part, the longest in the treatise, is told in the form of a dialogue between "Sultan Violin, an abortion and a pygmy," and Lady Viol, in which these allegorical characters debate the relative merits of the viol and the violin in the Jardin des Tuilieres

Tuileries Palace

The Tuileries Palace was a royal palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine until 1871, when it was destroyed in the upheaval during the suppression of the Paris Commune...

 prior to a Concert Spirituel

Concert Spirituel

The Concert Spirituel was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in Paris in 1725 and ended in 1790; later, concerts or series of concerts of the same name occurred in Paris, Vienna, London and elsewhere...

 in which the violinists Giovanni Battista Somis

Giovanni Battista Somis

Giovanni Battista Somis was an Italian violinist and composer of the Baroque music era.He studied under Arcangelo Corelli between 1703 and 1706 or 1707...

 (1686–1763) and Francesco Geminiani

Francesco Geminiani

thumb|230px|Francesco Geminiani.Francesco Saverio Geminiani was an Italian violinist, composer, and music theorist.-Biography:...

(1687–1762) are to play in the Italian style at a highly publicized concert. This section provides insight into the transition from private music-making by amateurs amongst the nobility and high bourgeoisie to music-making by professionals in a public concert hall.

Rules for making everything playable on the viol

In the third part, Le Blanc offers a solution to the declining popularity of the viol and expanding popularity of the violin, by explaining how to play violin music on the viol. The wealth of detail in this part demonstrates that Le Blanc must have been an expert player himself, and describes contemporary performance practice, both on the viol and on other instruments.