Alexandre Pierre François Boëly

Boely was a French composer, organist and pianist whose singing melodies foreshadowed the lyricism of Schumann. In France he brought the works of Bach to life and also promoted Haydn and Mozart. The flavor of Boely's techniques in composition included a system of multiple half-steps to ease the transitions from one key to another. He did not gain the favor of the nobility per se and therefore did not have a grand public following. Among his friends, however, were Bigot, Baillot, Kalkbrenner, and Cramer. ~ Keith Johnson