TRAVENET, Marquise de

Jeanne-Renée de Bombelles, Marquise de Travanet (1753–1828) was a French composer and poet associated with the royal court of Louis XVI. Born into the aristocratic Bombelles family, she served as a lady-in-waiting to Louis XVI's sister, Élisabeth of France, before marrying the Marquis de Travanet in 1779. She is best known as the composer of Pauvre Jacques, a song that became widely known in France during the late eighteenth century and entered the French popular song tradition. Some sources also credit Bombelles with the song's text, although its authorship remains uncertain and has alternatively been attributed to members of the French royal family. Her surviving reputation rests largely on Pauvre Jacques, which remains an enduring example of song associated with musical life at the French court in the years preceding the Revolution.