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Louis Marchand (Lyons, February 2, 1669- Paris, February 17 1732), Virtuoso organist and harpsichordist.
At age thirty-one he became "Organist to the King". He was known for his flamboyant nature both personally and musically, and took Paris by storm when he arrived there from Lyons. By nature he was a difficult and unreliable person. Nevertheless he was known by many as "Marchand le Grand". One anecdote that survives of him states that, while on tour in Leipzig, he engaged himself in a competition upon the organ with Johann Sebastian Bach, yet he left the city shortly before the competition was set to begin. Many stated that he fled out of fear of being shown up by Bach, but no conclusive proof of this can be verified.
A more reliable account of Marchand does indeed survive and indicates the boldness of his manner. After Marchand's wife had left him the king ordered him to pay half of his salary to her. As a result of that an enraged Marchand broke off in the middle of one of his concerts and, before the entire assembled court, told the king that if his wife was receiving half of his salary she should come and play the rest of the concert.
Despite Marchand's success and popularity in his day, only a few airs and cantatas, plus two harpsichord suites (1702) were published.
=Listen to organ pieces
plein jeu [[1] (http://www.aristote.asso.fr/gui/Sons/marchandplj.wav)]
piece in a minor [[2] (http://www.aristote.asso.fr/gui/Sons/marchandplm.wav)]
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