Nicolas Dalayrac

also known as Nicolas d'Alayrac, Dallairac, Daleyrac or Dallerac

Nicolas-Marie Dalayrac was born on 8 June 1753 in Muret (France). His father was a king’s counsellor and a wealthy aristocrat. His surname was originally spelled "d'Alayrac" showing this nobility. After the French Revolution in 1789 he dropped this attribute and spelled himself "Dalayrac". Nicolas Dalayrac received his schooling in Toulouse, where he went from the age of eight. He returned to Muret in 1767 and received singing lessons and played the violin in a local orchestra. He was obliged by his father to study law, in which he qualified by the age of 21. In 1774 he went to Versailles, where a commission had been obtained for him as a sub-lieutenant in the personal guard of the Count of Artois, later Charles X. In Paris Nicolas Dalayrac encountered influential musicians and musical amateurs such as the Baron de Besenval and the Chevalier de Saint-Georges and could follow his passion for music. He later received composition lessons from Honore Langle and with the consent of his father started a career as a composer.

Dalayrac’s first compositions were chamber works which he published under a pseudonym. These works were very successful and so Nicolas Dalayrac dared to create larger compositions under his own name. He was a member of the masonic Lodge ‘Neuf-Soeurs’ and in 1778 he composed music both for Voltaire’s and Benjamin Franklin's masonic reception. In 1781 Nicolas Dalayrac composed his first two operas comiques which received only performances in a private setting. But these works brought him the attention of Marie Antoinette who supported the public performance of his third opera comique "L'eclipse totale". This became the breakthrough as a composer and for the following years Nicolas Dalayrac wrote at least one opera comique a year. Several of these works became huge successes in France, but also throughout Europe and established his position as the leading composer of the genre opera comique. 

In 1798 Nicolas Dalayrac was awarded membership of the Swedish Royal Academy, and in 1804 he was made one of the first members of the Legion d’honneur. Nicolas Dalayrac also enjoyed the favour of Napoleon and composed the opera comique "Le poete et le musicien" for his coronation anniversary in 1809 and died before the premiere of the work.
Nicolas Dalayrac died on 27 November 1809 in Paris (France).