Joseph Bodin de Boismortier was born in France in 1869, and became one of the first composers whose income totally depended upon his ability to provide a constant flow of new works. He had no patrons, few of his scores were commissioned, and it seems that in his mature life he never appeared as an instrumental musician. Yet he so prolific, and his music so frequently performed, that he became very wealthy. Though he introduced many novel features in instrumental combinations he was a composer of the popular classics of the day, relying on tunefulness and elegance. His group of divertissements, the Ballets de Village, was composed in 1734, and displays the composer’s ability to please the listener with simple charms.