jean-françois le sueur was born in a tiny village called plessiel, near abbeville. his great-uncle was the painter eustache le sueur. he started his musical training by singing in the choir at the church of abbeville, then at the cathedral of amiens. le sueur became chorus master at the cathedral of sées. he went to paris to study harmony. his teacher was abbé nicolas roze, chorus master at the church saints-innocents. le sueur got jobs at dijon (1779), le mans (1782), tours (1783) and then took over roze’s job at the saints-innocents at paris. in 1786 he was made music director at the famous church notre-dame de paris.