Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet was born on March 17, 1665, into a family of musicians and master instrument-makers in the parish of Saint-Louis-en-l'Île, Paris.

{[1]} As a teenager she was accepted into the French court, where her education was supervised by the king's mistress, Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan.

[3] Her talent and achievements were acknowledged by Titon du Tillet, who accorded her a place on his Mount Parnassus when she was only 26 years old, next to Lalande and Marais and immediately below Lully.

A quote from Titon du Tillet describes her as having: marvellous facility for playing preludes and fantasies off the cuff.

During the 1690s she composed a ballet, Les Jeux à l'honneur de la victoire (c. 1691), which has subsequently been lost.

The reception of Céphale et Procris tells us more about the world of opera in France in the 1690s and French music than about her ability as a composer.

I have striven even harder, Sire, to deserve your approbation, which has always meant everything to me ...She returned to vocal composition with the publication of two books of Cantates françoises sur des sujets tirez de l'Ecriture in 1708 and 1711.

Her life and career success show that she was given a rare opportunity to succeed as a female composer, and that she took full advantage of it.

[9] The mini-operas reflect the struggles of three Biblical women—Susanne, Rachel and Judith—against male violence and oppression[10] and their staging included 'three different singers, four musicians, five watermelons and seven large blue rolls'.

The rest of her output is thought to have been published in her lifetime, although Titon du Tillet mentioned a lost Te Deum setting in his tribute to Jacquet de La Guerre.