Jean-Paul-Égide Martini

[1] He is best known today for the vocal romance "Plaisir d'amour," on which the 1961 Elvis Presley pop standard "Can't Help Falling in Love" is based.

He was educated at the Jesuit seminary in Neuburg an der Donau and later started a study of philosophy in Freiburg im Breisgau, which he quit unfinished.

Having directed concerts for queen Marie Antoinette, he adapted to the changing regimes throughout the French Revolution, and later wrote music for Napoleon's marriage as well as for the restored Chapelle royale.

In 1814, after the Bourbon Restoration, Martini was finally appointed surintendant de la musique du roi, the post that he had been promised more than 25 years earlier.

His last composition was a requiem in honour of Louis XVI of France, which he performed in the Basilica of St Denis on 21 January 1816, the anniversary day of the monarch's execution.