When his father died a year or two later, a government official, M. de
Boucheporn, sent him, with his own children, to Rome, where he was
placed with Pollani, a pupil of Nardini, under whom he made rapid
progress, and soon began to play in public. He was, however, unable to
follow directly in the path of his profession, and for five years he
travelled with his benefactor, acting as private secretary, and securing
but little time for his violin playing.

In 1791 he returned to Paris, and Viotti secured a place for him in the
opera orchestra, but on being offered a position in the Ministère des
Finances, he gave up his operatic work, and for some years devoted only
his leisure to the study of the violin. He now had to serve with the
army for twenty months, at the end of which time he once more determined
to take up music as a profession, and soon appeared in public with a
concerto of Viotti. This performance established his reputation, and he
was offered a professorship of violin playing at the Conservatoire, then
recently opened.

His next appointment was to the private band of Napoleon, after which
he travelled for three years in Russia with the violoncello player
Lemare, earning great fame.

Returning to Paris, he established concerts for chamber music, which
proved successful, and built up for him a reputation as an unrivalled
quartet player. He travelled again, visiting Holland, Belgium, and
England, and then he became leader of the opera band in Paris and of the
royal band. He made a final tour in Switzerland in 1833, and died in
1842.