Robert Ballard II

Robert Ballard II (c. 1572 or 1575 – after 1650) was a prominent French lutenist and composer.^[1] Probably born in Paris, his father, Robert Ballard Senior (c.1527–1588) was the head of the well-known music publishers "Le Roy & Ballard", founded in 1551 with cousin Adrian Le Roy (a notable virtuoso lutenist and composer of the period).^[2]

From 1612 he entered the service of the French Regent Maria de Medici and was tutor to the young King Louis XIII, becoming a lutenist and composer ("Musicien ordinaire du roi") at the royal court in 1618.^{[citation needed]}