Violinist, Composer, Teacher. Many consider him the founder of the French Violin School. Starting out as a ballet dancer in his native Lyon, Leclair studied violin in Italy and made his debut as a virtuoso soloist in Paris in 1723. He was a court musician for Louis XV from 1733 to 1737 and for the Princess of Orange in The Hague from 1738 to 1743, but he chafed under royal restrictions and preferred to support himself through private patrons, recitals, and teaching. From 1730 he was married to engraver Louise Roussel, who prepared all his manuscripts for publication. Leclair's principal compositions are some 50 sonatas for violin and continuo, published in four volumes between 1723 to 1743. They reveal how he gradually broke from the busy, ornamental Italian manner to create a violin style that emphasized clarity and tone, and which came to be viewed as quintessentially French in expression. Among his other works are 11 violin concertos, a Flute Concerto, a dozen sonatas for violin duo, and an opera, "Scylla et Glaucus" (1746). He also wrote church music but most of it is lost. Leclair was known as a difficult, mercurial man who tried the patience of friends and sponsors alike, and age did nothing to mellow him. In 1758, at 61, he deserted Louise to lead a freewheeling lifestyle in a seedy Paris neighborhood. On the morning of October 23, 1764, he was found stabbed to death on the doorstep of his home. Police suspected his nephew, a violinist whose career Leclair had refused to promote, and his estranged wife, but no charges were filed and the case remains a mystery. He was buried with great ceremony at the Church of Saint-Laurent. The playing technique Leclair helped pioneer influenced generations of violinists and is taught at the Paris Conservatory to this day.