Marin Marais, the son of a shoemaker, enrolled in the choir school of St Germain-l'Auxerrois in 1667, with his uncle Louis Marais, vicar of the monastery, which was under royal patronage. He lived until 1672, obtaining an outstanding musical education from François Chaperon, a fellow student being the young Michel-Richard de Lalande. Marais most certainly started studying the viol there before beginning his training with the famed bass violist Sainte-Colombe. After six months, he is claimed to have exceeded his tutor, and by 1675, he was performing with the Opéra orchestra in Paris.