Xavier Boisselot

Dominique-François-Xavier Boisselot (Montpellier, 3 December 1811 — Paris, 8 April 1893) was a French composer and musical-instrument manufacturer. He is the author of the opéra-comique in three acts Ne touchez pas à la reine to a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Gustave Vaëz. Boisselot left many art songs, including Villanella, whose text was written for Boisselot by Théophile Gautier in 1837. His father is credited with the invention of the sostenuto pedal in 1844, a device not largely adopted by European piano manufacturers until after Steinway & Sons patent of 1875.