Jacques-Martin Hotteterre (1674- ) was a French composer and flutist. The details of Hotteterre's life are sketchy. He was the son of Martin Hotteterre and Marie Crespy, born in Paris on 29 September 1674. He may have have held a post in the royal music as basse de hautbois et basse de violon, perhaps as early as 1689, and officially from 1692--or perhaps the "Jacques Hotteterre" named in this post was a relative of the same name, previously employed at the English court.
The significance of the nickname "le Romain" has recently (Franci, 2002) been illuminated by the revelation that Jacques lived in Rome early in his career and spent two years (1698-1700) on the payroll of Prince Francesco Ruspoili, one of the era's most powerful Roman merchants, before adopting the moniker some time between 1705 and 1707. By 1708, according to the title page of his Pièces pour la flûte traversière, he was "flûte de la Chambre du Roy". In 1717 he inherited, conditional on payment of a very large fee, René Pignon Descoteaux's position as "Jouëur de Fluste de la musique de chambre". Jacques appears to have been a fashionable teacher of aristocratic amateurs, perhaps with an international reputation, due partly perhaps to his method book of 1707 for flute, recorder and oboe, which was reprinted, translated and plagiarized in subsequent decades. His L'Art de préluder sur la flûte traversière (1719) is a rare document of the manner in which preludes and practice studies could be improvised.
Jacques composed two books of pieces (suites) for flute and continuo, a book of trio sonatas (two flutes and bass), and three suites for two unaccompanied flutes or other instruments. He was noted as a participant in court performances in 1720 and 1721, and in 1743 was included in a list of the most famous musicians in France. He married Marie Geneviève Charpentier on 31 March 1728; the couple had six children.
