author
F. D. (François Danican) Philidor
1726–1795
A rare double talent of the eighteenth century, he was celebrated both as a composer who helped shape French opéra-comique and as Europe’s leading chess player. His chess treatise, Analyse du jeu des échecs, and the opening, endgame position, and checkmate method named after him continue to bear his mark.
1 Audiobook
Studies of chess : Containing Caïssa, a poem, by Sir William Jones; a systematic introduction to the game; and the whole Analysis of chess
by F. D. (François Danican) Philidor
About the author
Born in Dreux, France, in 1726, François-André Danican Philidor came from a celebrated dynasty of court musicians. He entered the Royal Chapel at Versailles as a child and studied harmony with André Campra before turning to composition in the 1740s. His works ranged from sacred music and grand opera to more than twenty opéras comiques, including Blaise le savetier, Le Maréchal ferrant, Le Sorcier, and Tom Jones.
Philidor was also widely regarded as the strongest chess player of his age. His 1749 book, Analyse du jeu des échecs, became a standard chess manual, and his ideas remain part of chess vocabulary through the Philidor Defence and Philidor position. He spent his final years in England after the French Revolution and died in London in 1795.