Pierre Baillot, French violinist and composer (born 1771)

Pierre Marie François de Sales Baillot was a French violinist and composer born in Passy. He studied the violin under Giovanni Battista Viotti and taught at the Conservatoire de Paris together with Pierre Rode and Rodolphe Kreutzer, who wrote the Conservatoire's official violin method. He was sole author of the instructional L'Art du violon (1834). Baillot's teachings had a profound influence on technical and musical development in an age in which virtuosity was openly encouraged. He was leader of the Paris Opéra, gave solo recitals and was a notable performer of chamber music.