Year 1744 (MDCCXLIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Sunday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar.

Jacques Duphly (January 12, 1715 – July 15, 1789) was a French harpsichordist and organist, and the composer of bright, lively, and attractive keyboard music.

He was born in Rouen, France, the son of Jacques-Agathe Duphly and Marie-Louise Boivin. As a boy, he studied the harpsichord and organ, and was employed as organist at the cathedral in Évreux.

His teacher was François d'Agincourt.

On 11 September 1734 'le sieur Dufliq, organist of the cathedral of Évreux' applied for a position at the church at St. Eloi; the register goes on to make clear that he had been trained by Dagincourt at Rouen, went to Évreux (c. 1732) for what must have been his first appointment (he was only 19 when he resigned from it) and returned to his native parish. His tenure at St Eloi began inauspiciously since the old man he was replacing did not take kindly to this personnel decision, and locked the organ loft before he left and threw away the key, but the church quickly changed the locks. To St Eloi he added Notre Dame de la Ronde in 1740, his sister Marie-Anne-Agathe sometimes substituting for him when duties conflicted. He left both appointments in 1742 and moved to Paris. According to the clerk of St Eloi, it was affairs that drew him there, but other reports suggest that it was the realization that he would do better as a specialist of the harpsichord in Paris than as an organist in Rouen. Therefore in 1742 he settled in Paris, making his name as a harpsichordist, teacher and composer. He was praised for his light touch and a great ability to bring out the character of the pieces. In 1742, after the death of his father, Duphly moved to Paris, where he became famous as a performer and teacher. He was considered by Pascal Taskin, the harpsichord maker, to be one of the best teachers in Paris.

André Campra (Aix-en-Provence, (baptized) 4 December 1660 – 29 June 1744 in Versailles) was a French composer and conductor.

Campra was one of the leading French opera composers in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau. He wrote several tragédies en musique, but his chief claim to fame is as the creator of a new genre, opéra-ballet. He also wrote three books of cantatas as well as religious music, including a requiem.

Campra was the son of Jean-François Campra, a surgeon and violinist from Graglia, in Italy, and of Louise Fabry, from Aix-en-Provence. Campra's father was his first music teacher. Campra became a choirboy at Saint-Sauveur in Aix in 1674, and commenced ecclesiastical studies four years later. He was reprimanded by his superiors in 1681 for having taken part in theatrical performances without permission, but was nevertheless made a chaplain on 27 May that year.

From 1694 to 1700, he was maître de musique (music director) at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, after having served in a similar capacity in Arles and Toulouse. Campra controversially brought violins into the making of sacred music at Notre-Dame de Paris which at the time was seen as very avant-garde due to their reputation as 'street instruments'.