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Podcast: The Early Music Show
Episode: Ghostwriter: The Story of Henri Desmarest
Description: Henry Desmarest was obviously a talented musican and composer, first boy page and then musician in Louis XIV's court, he began ghost-writing Grands Motets for one of the chapel directors Nicholas Goupillet when he was in his early twenties. After a decade, this scandal was uncovered, but it was not the last of Desmarest's woes! A few years later, he fell in love with one of his pupils, who also happened to be the daughter of a wealthy and powerful man who managed to get the composer sentenced to death, forcing Desmarest to spend the rest of his days...