[1] At age thirteen, his harpsichord skills were noticed by the Marquise de la Mézangère, a pupil of François Couperin.
In 1747 she decided to take him in at her Paris hôtel to teach him the harpsichord while the violinist Saint-Saire taught him music.
The Bibliothèque nationale de France also holds a manuscript for a treatise on accompaniment, entitled Théorie pratique D'Accompagnement.
Its overall organization has been described as "appear[ing] to be an exercise in alternating contrasts between the French and Italian styles", and evokes many different genres of the mid-18th century late Baroque.
[5] In his first Book, Simon breaks with tradition by using multiple keys in a single suite, and incorporates sonata-like violin and cello lines into some of the harpsichord movements.