LE FRENCH CONNECTION

THE BALLARD FAMILY

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Christophe Ballard's printing mark

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PRINTERS WHO FROM 1560 TO 1750 VIRTUALLY MONOPOLIZED MUSIC PRINTING IN FRANCE

The founder of the dynasty was ROBERT BALLARD (d.1588), brother in law to celebrated lutenist and composer ADRIAN LE ROY. These two used movable type, cut in 1540 by Robert's father in law GUILLAUME LE BE' (or due Gue'). There first patent was granted in 1552 as sole music printers to Henry II. Robert's widow and his son, PIERRE BALLARD (d.1639), continued the business, and further patents were obtained from Henry IV and Louis XIII. Roberts grandson, ROBERT BALLARD II, ran the firm from 1640 to 1679. He was suceeded by CHRISTOPHE BALLARD (d.1715), JEAN-BAPTISTE-CHRISTOPHE BALLARD (d.1750), CHRISTOPHE-JEAN-FRANCOIS BALLARD (d.1765), PIERRE-ROBERT-CHRISTOPHE BALLARD (d.1812), who carried on management untill 1788. Throughout the history of the printers, the women of the family were often as active in the bisiness as the men.

BALLARD PUBLICATIONS, both those with the early movable type and the latter ones engraved on copper plates, were noted for their beauty and care of presentation. Their title pages were frquently superb examples of decorative engraving. The music published represented practically all the French composers of the period.

On July 14, 1551, Robert Ballard (c. 1525-1588), in partnershipwith his cousin, the lutenist and composer Adrian le Roy, were granted a privilege (license) for printing music from the French king Henri II.

In 1553, Le Roy and Ballard received the title of music printer to the king, which was re-affirmed in 1568 under Charles IX. A combination of important court connections, shrewd choice of repertoire, technical expertise, and high artistic quality gave Le Roy and Ballard a near-monopoly on music printing in France through the end of the 16th century.

Under Henry IV in 1594, a few years after Robert's death, the same title was granted to the partnership of Le Roy and Lucrèce Ballard, Robert's widow. Members of the Ballard family were to bear the title of music printers to the king well into the 18th century. They held a virtual monopoly on music printing in France for two centuries, and continued in business into the second decade of the 19th century, when the final owner was the great-great-great-great grandson of Robert.

The association of the Ballard firm with Lully began during the tenure of Robert Ballard (iii) (1610-1673), grandson of Robert and Lucrèce, whose privilege, granted in 1639 under Louis XIII, made him the first member of the family named as sole printer to the king for music. Under Robert, the Ballard firm produced its first orchestral scores, beginning with stage works by Cambert.

Christophe Ballard (1641-1715), great grandson of Robert (i), who received his patent from Louis XIV on May 11, 1673, printed the first orchestral scores of Lully's works for the theater, beginning in 1679 with the publication of Bellerophon. The seven first edition scores in the UNT Lully Collection [Bellerophon, 1679; Le Triomphe de l'Amour, 1681; Ballet du Temple de la Paix, 1685; Roland, 1685; Armide, 1686; Achille et Polixène (Lully and Colasse), 1687, and Zephire et Flore (Jean-Louis Lully), 1688] all bear the imprint of Christophe Ballard.

After the publication of Bellerophon, each of Lully's subsequent operas and ballets were published shortly after their first performance. All the Lully operas first performed before publication of Bellerophon were also eventually published by the Ballard family. The last, Psyché, which had premiered in 1678, was published in 1720 by Christophe's son, Jean-Baptiste Christophe Ballard, who received his patent on Oct. 5, 1695 and took over management of the firm after Christophe's death.

The Ballard firm had reached the zenith of its success under Christophe. About 1700, the house maintained four presses and employed nine helpers and two apprentices. Virtually all the music printed in France at that time came from Ballard. Besides Lully, composers whose music was printed exclusively by Ballard include Brossard, Campra, Charpentier, Collasse, the Couperins, Dandrieu, Hotteterre, Lalande, Lebègue, Marais and Montéclair.

At the same time, during the tenure of Christophe and his son the firm had to undergo a number of expensive lawsuits. Among the most famous was a dispute over the printing rights to Lully's works. Some years after the composer's death in 1687, his son attempted to reprint his father's works without Ballard's permission. Ballard sued, and successfully defended the firm's exclusive publication rights for the works in question.

The suit was complicated, however, by a wider issue having to do with changes in printing technology. Since its founding in the 16th century, the Ballard firm had printed exclusively using movable musical type. A musical type face with lozenge-shaped notes, which had originally been cast for LeRoy and Ballard in the 1550s by Guillaume Le Bé, continued in use through the 17th century. Ballard resisted changing over to the new process of music engraving, which was gaining wide popularity, but which would have
required a substantial investment in new equipment and training.

The Parisian engraver Henri de Baussen produced a series of "second edition" piano-vocal scores of Lully operas during the first two decades of the 18th century which were embroiled in similar legal controversies. Four of the second edition scores in the UNT Lully Collection [Atys (1708 and 1709), Roland (1709), and Thesée (1711) have de Baussen's name on the title page as engraver.

After 1700, new woodcut graphics in Proserpine, Isis; Ballard t.p. attached to engraved second edition of Persée.

In 1713, several musicians not connected with Ballard obtained privileges to print music from engraved plates. Ballard entered suit against them, but this time was defeated. The court ruled that Ballard had the exclusive privilege only for printing music from movable type.

Jean-Baptiste-Christophe Ballard died in 1750, and with him much of the prestige and power of the Ballard firm. His son, Christophe-Jean-Francois Ballard (1701-1765) was described as "lazy and untalented" in a police report of the time. This lack of leadership, combined with the firm's unwillingness to adapt to new technologies or changing aesthetics, led to their decline. The last of the direct line, Christophe-Jean-Francois (iii) Ballard, great-great-great-great grandson of the founder, died in 1825.

For additional reading on the Ballard family, we recommend:

Samuel F. Pogue. "Ballard," Music Printing and Publishing, eds. D. W. Krummel and Stanley Sadie. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, 1990, 159-163, from which much of the preceding information was taken.
F. Lesure and G. Thibault. Bibliographie des éditions musicales imprimées par Adrian Le Roy et Robert Ballard.Paris, 1955.
L. Guillo. Bibliographie des éditions imprimées par Pierre I Ballard puis par Robert III Ballard (1599-1673). In progress. (reported to us by the author)
Cecil Hopkinson. A Dictionary of Parisian Music Publishers 1700-1950. London: printed for the Author, 1954.

extracts from Enclyclopiedia Britanica, & Lully Collection.

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