Adrian Le Roy was a French lutenist, guitarist, composer, music publisher, and pedagogue, born around 1520 in Montreuil-sur-Mer to a wealthy family. With his cousin Robert Ballard, he founded the Parisian printing firm Le Roy & Ballard, which obtained a royal privilege to print music from Henry II in 1551 and was named “Imprimeur du Roi en musique” in 1553. While Ballard managed the business, Le Roy served as artistic director and composer, publishing at least six books of lute tablature, five volumes for guitar, and arrangements for cittern, alongside instructional method books that were translated into English and widely used abroad. He died in 1598 in Paris.

Adrian Le Roy shaped the course of French Renaissance music publishing, and his firm’s editions of lute, guitar, and cittern music became standard reference works circulated across Europe. His own instructional tablature books, especially as translated into English, introduced generations of amateur and professional players to the lute and guitar, making him one of the most influential figures in disseminating plucked-string technique and repertoire in the sixteenth century.

Sources:

• http://www.hoasm.org/IVE/LeRoy.html