A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Notot, Joseph

NOTOT, Joseph, born at Arras, Pas de Calais, in 1755. From his earliest infancy he manifested a wonderful aptitude for music. His father intended to educate him for the church or the bar; and for the purpose of diverting his mind from the pursuit he most loved they sent him to Paris. It happened soon after his arrival in that city that a friend took him to St. Germain-des-Prés, where, having obtained permission of Leclerc, the organist, to sit at the organ, he performed extempore in so ingenious a manner that Leclerc would not believe it possible the boy could be playing from his own ideas. Leclerc therefore gave him a subject, upon which the boy instantly formed a fugue, and acquitted himself so admirably that the great composer seized him in his arms, and, lifting him up as high as he could, exclaimed, in an ecstasy of delight, 'Tu resteras à Paris.' His father, finding him to have really a genius for music, permitted the boy to adhere to the study of music as his future profession, and he consequently remained in Paris, where he soon acquired a great reputation. On his return to Arras he was appointed organist there. His compositions, which were greatly admired by John Christian Bach, consist of four symphonies, three pianoforte concertos, and a number of sonatas for that instrument. And it is said that in his style of accompanying from a full score Joseph Notot was unequalled. At the French Revolution this excellent musician renounced music as a profession and came to reside in England. We regret not to be able to ascertain the period of his decease. The above notice is from a work called the 'British Minstrel and Musical Literary Miscellany,' published some years ago in Glasgow as a periodical, No. 58.

[ C. H. P. ]