Pierre Gaultier, (Gautier) also known as Gautier de Marseille (1642 - 1696), was a French composer and opera director. It was during a stay in Paris that he was introduced, through contact with Lully, to all aspects of this new and sumptuous art form that is opera. Back in Marseille in 1681 as a music master, he created in 1685 the first provincial opera in Marseille with Lully's permission, and thus exported this form of performance to other Southern French cities such as Aix, Arles, Toulon, Avignon, Montpellier...