French composer and harpist. He learned music from his father while growing up in Paris; in 1773 he played a succesful harp concerto in the Burgtheater in Vienna. After serving three years in Count Esterrházy's court orchestra (1773 - 76) during which he is said to have taken counterpoint lessons with Haydn, he embarked on a successful concert tour of Europe. In Paris and Metz he worked with manufacturers towards improving the construction of the harp. He drowned himself in the Seine after his wife, Anne-Marie Krumpholtz (1755 - 1824), also a virtuoso harpist, eloped to London with the pianist Jan Ladislav Dussek. He composed concertos and sonatas for harp and chamber music.