Annibal Gantez

[6] He subsequently went (after his Lettres) at Le Havre, La Châtre and Aurillac, then in Avignon where he worked simultaneously at the Saint-Pierre d'Avignon Basilica [fr] and the Notre-Dame des Doms Cathedral, again for a short period from December 1631 to June 1632.

He then moved on to the mastery of Saint-Sauveur of Aix-en-Provence, of good reputation, where he was hired on 15 April 1636 for the annual wages of 200 lt.[11] He remained there for two years and two months, succeeding Jehan Darbes.

[12] Obtaining a chaplaincy on 6 March 1638 shows that he was appreciated by the chapter but he was finally dismissed on 23 June, having aroused complaints, being replaced only on 23 September by Jehan Garsin.

For Saint-Paul, he claims to have succeeded "by adventure",[15] even though the dedication to abbot des Roches - a close relative of Cardinal Richelieu - of his mass Laetimini, published in 1641, shows that he may have had some support.

As for the Saints- Innocents, he acceded to it by competition, but the publication of the Mass "Vigilate" in 1642 and the dedication that he made of it to Mademoiselle de Saint-Géran[16] also reveals support.

The execution of this second mass at the Couvent des Minimes de la place Royale [fr] with musicians from the Sainte-Chapelle and Notre-Dame[17] is a sign that at that time Gantez was able to enjoy a certain visibility.

The precise periods of Gantez's exercise in these two churches are unknown, but the dates of the dispatches he sends of his masses give indications: in December 1640 he was at St. Paul's and in July 1642 at the Saints-Innocents.

[19] It was there that shortly after his arrival, in 1643, he published L'Entretien des musiciens,[20] a collection of letters that would enduringly establish his posterity, being an irreplaceable testimony to the life of the maîtres de chapelle in the 17th century.

The last known trace of Gantez's career is that of master of the chapel of Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine in Nancy, when he is reported in 1665 about a payment of 200 francs for the food of altar children.

), at the age of fifty-nine, so if Le Cerf de la Viéville's anecdote about his mass on Allons en Candie is true, he still lived in 1668 or 1669, but we do not know where.