He was born in Paris into a family of artists and musicians. A gifted and precocious child, he gave his first public performances when he was 5 years old, playing the harpsichord for King Louis XIV of France, and his court. These concerts marked the beginning of Dandrieu's very successful career as harpsichordist and organist. He was a student of Jean-Baptiste Moreau. In 1700, aged 18, he started playing the organ at the Saint-Merrichurch in Paris and became its titular organist in 1705. At some point in 1706 he was a member of the panel of judges who examined Jean-Philippe Rameau's skills to appoint him organist of the Sainte-Madeleine en la Cité church. In 1721 he was appointed one of the four organists of the Chapelle royale of France. In 1733, he succeeded his uncle, the organist and priestPierre Dandrieu to become the organist of the church of St Barthélémy in the Île de la Cité, a post he combined with duties at Saint-Merri. He died in Paris in 1739, and was succeeded at the organ of St Barthélemy by his sister, Jeanne-Françoise. The works published during his lifetime include the following collections:
Two Livres de sonates à violon seul, sonatas for soloviolin
Les caractères de la guerre, instrumental concerts
Three little harpsichord collections and three great ones
A volume of organ noëls, which revised and enlarged a similar book published by his uncle, Pierre Dandrieu in 1714. This was published posthumously by sister, Jeanne-Françoise, in 1759. Dandrieu also published an academic treatise on accompaniment in 1718, which now serves as an important source of information on the musical practice of the era. Dandrieu's harpsichord writing is reminiscent of that of François Couperin, but with more effective use of counterpoint, which reminds the listener of German Baroque music. The strict traditional suite "à la Froberger" is abandoned in his works, many dance movements replaced with the so-called pièces de caractère, pieces with descriptive titles that were common in French music of the 18th century. Dandrieu's harpsichord oeuvre is, after those of François Couperin and Jean-Nicolas Geoffroy, the most important in terms of sheer quantity of pieces.
