Jean-Baptiste de Lully (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃batist də lyˈli]; Italian: Giovanni Battista di Lulli) (28 November 1632 – 22 March 1687) was an Italian composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He became a French subject in 1661.
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Lully was born in Florence, Italy. Lully had little education, but he had a very natural talent to play the guitar, learned by a franciscan monk of Florence. He later knew how to play the violin, and to dance. In 1646, he was discovered by Roger de Lorraine, the chevalier de Guise, son of Charles, Duke of Guise, and taken to France by him, where he entered the services of Mademoiselle de Montpensier (la Grande Mademoiselle) as a scullery-boy and Italian-language teacher. With the help of this princess, his talent increased. He studied the theory of music under Nicolas Métru. It has been said that a scurrilous song on his patroness (the doggerel he set to music refers to a "sigh" she produced while at stool) resulted in his dismissal. It is far more likely that he did not want to moulder out in the provinces with the exiled princess.[citation needed]
He came into Louis XIV's service in late 1652, early 1653 as a dancer. He composed some music for the Ballet de la nuit, which pleased the king immensely. He was appointed as the composer of instrumental music to the king, conducting twenty-four violins of the Grande Bande (large band). He tired of the lack of discipline of the Grande Bande and, with the King's permission, formed his own Petits Violons.
Lully composed many ballets for the King during the 1650s and 1660s, in which the King and Lully himself danced. He also had tremendous success composing the music for the comedies of Molière, including Le Mariage forcé (1664), L'Amour médecin (1665), and Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1670). It was when he met Molière that together they created the comédie-ballet. Louis XIV's interest in ballet waned as he aged, and his dancing ability declined (his last performance was in 1670) and so Lully pursued opera. He bought the privilege for opera from Pierre Perrin and, with the backing of Jean-Baptiste Colbert and the king, created a new privilege which essentially gave Lully complete control of all music performed in France until his death in 1687.
He was known to be a libertine. In 1661, in letters of naturalization and in his marriage contract to Madeleine Lambert, daughter of Lully's friend and fellow musician Michel Lambert, Giovanni Battista Lulli declared himself as "'Jean-Baptiste de Lully, escuyer' son of 'Laurent de Lully, gentilhomme Florentin'".[1] Although his life is full of meteoric heights, his love affairs with men and women also brought him down in scandal several times at the great displeasure of Louis XIV. Despite these scandals, he always managed to get back into the good graces of Louis XIV who found Lully essential for his musical entertainments and who thought of Lully as one of his few true friends.
On 8 January 1687, Lully was conducting a Te Deum in honor of Louis XIV's recent recovery from illness. He was beating time by banging a long staff (a precursor to the bâton) against the floor, as was the common practice at the time, when he struck his toe, creating an abscess. The wound turned gangrenous, but Lully refused to have his toe amputated and the gangrene spread, resulting in his death on 22 March. He left his last opera, Achille et Polyxène, unfinished. His two sons Jean-Louis Lully and Louis Lully also had musical careers at the French court.
Lully's music is from the Middle Baroque period, 1650 to 1700. Typical of Baroque music is the use of the basso continuo as the driving force behind the music. The pitch standard for French Baroque music was about 392 Hz for A above middle C, a whole tone lower than modern practice where A is usually 440 Hz.
Lully's music is known for its power, liveliness in its fast movements and its deep emotional character in its sad movements. Some of his most popular works are his passacaille (passacaglia) and chaconne which are dance movements found in many of his works such as Armide or Phaëton.
The influence of Lully's music produced a radical revolution in the style of the dances of the court itself. Instead of the slow and stately movements which had prevailed until then, he introduced lively ballets of rapid rhythm. He affected important improvements in the composition of the orchestra, into which he introduced several new instruments, and Lully enjoyed the friendship of Molière, with whom he created a new music form, the comédie-ballet which combined theater, comedy, and ballet.
The instruments in his music were: five voices of strings such as dessus (a higher voice range than soprano), haute-contre (a type of high tenor voice), taille (baritenor), quinte, basse), divided as follows: one voice of violins, three voices of violas, one voice of cello, and basse de viole (viole, viola da gamba). He also utilized guitar, lute, archlute, theorbo, harpsichord, organ, oboe, bassoon, recorder, flute, brass instruments and various percussion instruments.
Lully founded French opera (tragédie en musique or tragédie lyrique), having found Italian-style opera inappropriate for the French language. Having found a congenial poet and librettist in Philippe Quinault, Lully composed many operas and other works, which were received enthusiastically. Lully can be considered the founder of French opera, having forsaken the Italian method of dividing musical numbers into separate recitatives and arias, choosing instead to combine the two for dramatic effect. Lully also opted for quicker story development as was more to the taste of the French public.
Chœur des divinités de la terre et des eaux, from Psyché (1687) - Midi file (help·info)
| Le Bourgeois gentilhomme - 1. Ouverture | |
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| Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra | |
| Le Bourgeois gentilhomme - 2. Gravement | |
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| Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra | |
| Le Bourgeois gentilhomme - 3. Sarabande | |
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| Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra | |
| Le Bourgeois gentilhomme - 4. Bourée | |
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| Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra | |
| Le Bourgeois gentilhomme - 5. Gaillarde Canarie | |
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| Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra | |
| Le Bourgeois gentilhomme - 6. Gavotte | |
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| Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra | |
| Le Bourgeois gentilhomme - 7. Loure | |
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| Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra | |
| Le Bourgeois gentilhomme - 8. Air des Espagnoles | |
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| Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra | |
| Le Bourgeois gentilhomme - 9. Menuet 1 and 2 | |
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| Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra | |
| Le Bourgeois gentilhomme - 10. Chaconne des Scaramouches, Trivelins | |
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| Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra | |
| Le Bourgeois gentilhomme - 11. Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs | |
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| Performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra | |
Giannini, Tula. "The Music Library of Jean-Baptiste Christophe Ballard, Sole Music Printer to the King of France, 1750 Inventory of his Grand Collection Brought to Light." Indexed in RILM. See article at: http://mysite.pratt.edu/~giannini/ballard.htm The Ballard family as sole printer to the King, published Lully's opera scores.
"Jean-Baptiste Lully". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Jean-Baptiste_Lully.JEAN LULLY - BAPTISTE (c. 1633-1687), Italian composer, was born in Florence. Through the duc de Guise he entered the services of Madame de Montpensier as scullery-boy, and with the help of this lady his musical talents were cultivated. A scurrilous poem on his patroness resulted in his dismissal. He then studied the theory of music under Metra and entered the orchestra of the French court, being subsequently appointed director of music to Louis XIV. and director of the Paris opera. The influence of his music produced a radical revolution in the style of the dances of the court itself. Instead of the slow and stately movements which had prevailed until then, he introduced lively ballets of rapid rhythm. In December 1661 he was naturalized as a Frenchman, his original name being Giovanni Battista Lulli. In 1662 he was appointed music master to the royal family. In 1681 he was made a court secretary to the king and ennobled. While directing a Te Deum on the 8th of January 1687 with a rather long baton he injured his foot so seriously that a cancerous growth resulted which caused his death on the 22nd of March. Having found a congenial poet in Quinault, Lully composed twenty operas, which met with a most enthusiastic reception. Indeed he has good claim to be considered the founder of French opera, forsaking the Italian method of separate recitative and aria for a dramatic consolidation of the two and a quickened action of the story such as was more congenial to the taste of the French public. He effected important improvements in the composition of the orchestra, into which he introduced several new instruments. Lully enjoyed the friendship of Moliere, for some of whose best plays he composed illustrative music. His Miserere, written for the funeral of the minister Sequier, is a work of genius; and very remarkable are also his minor sacred compositions. On his death-bed he wrote Bisogna morire, peccatore.
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Categories: LUD-LYT | Opera composers
Jean-Baptiste Lully (pronounce: "Loo-lee"), (born Florence, 28 November 1632; died Paris, 22 March 1687), was an Italian composer, violinist and dancer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He took on French nationality in 1661. He was the most important French composer of his time. Lully realized that music in the Italian style was not suitable for the French language, so he composed his operas in a special way. He created the tradition of French opera. He also wrote a lot of ballet music and some church music. Lully is remembered for the strange way in which he died.
Lully was born in Florence, Italy. Lully did not have much education. He taught himself a lot of what he could do. He learned to play the guitar and the violin and to dance.
In 1646 he was taken to France where he was given a job teaching Italian to a Duchess. He had the opportunity to hear a lot of good music, and by the time he was 20 he was an excellent composer, violinist and dancer.
He started to work for Louis XIV in 1652. He composed some music for the Ballet de la Nuit (Night Ballet). The king liked it very much. He became composer of instrumental music to the king. His orchestra (called Grande Bande, i.e. large band) had 24 violins. They were not very good, so he got the king’s permission to start another group which he called Petits Violons (Little Violins). There were 16 in the group (later it became 21), and Lully trained them properly. He did not let them put too many ornaments in the music.
He became a Frenchman in 1661. The next year he became Music Master to the Royal Family and he also married. The king and queen signed the marriage document, so Lully was obviously a very important man.
Lully composed lots of ballets for the King during the 1650s and 1660s. He was one of the dancers in these ballets. The king also danced. He worked with the great playwright Molière, composing music for Molière’s comedies. These include Le Mariage forcé (1664), L'Amour médecin (1665), and Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1670). Together with Molière he created the Comédie-Ballet which became a great French tradition.
When the king got older he could not dance and so he became less interested in ballet. So Lully became more interested in composing operas. He earned a lot of money from this, because there was an arrangement with the king that Lully would have complete control of any music that was published in France. Lully had become a very powerful man, and many other musicians did not like this. There were a lot of arguments, especially when Lully did not allow music in puppet shows.
Lully had lots of successes in his life. He also had many love affairs, both with men and women. There were several scandals, but the king always forgave him because he was a great friend.
Late in 1686 the king had been ill, but he got better, so he asked Lully to organize a concert to celebrate the fact that he was well again. The concert was given on 8 January 1687. The orchestra played a Te Deum. Lully conducted the orchestra. Conductors did not yet use batons (sticks) in those days. Instead, Lully banged a big stick on the floor to keep the orchestra together. Suddenly, he hit his toe with his stick. The wound in the toe got an infection. He did not want the doctors to cut off his toe. The infection spread to the rest of the body, and he died on 22 March.
Lully was very rich when he died. He left 800.000 livres. He had five houses in Paris as well as two country houses.
Lully lived in the middle of the Baroque period. He liked fast, lively music, especially music that could be danced to. He changed people’s taste in musical style. He used a lot of instruments that had not been used in orchestras before. His friendship with Molière resulted in a new musical form, the comédie-ballet which combined theatre, comedy, and ballet.
Lully also created the style of French opera called tragédie en musique or tragédie lyrique. Instead of having his opera music divided into recitatives and arias he often combined the two so that events in the story happened quickly.
   | Bibliothèque Nationale de France - Gallica, Bibliotheque nationale de France digital library |
| | Lully, Jean-Baptiste - glbtq >> arts >> Lully, Jean-Baptiste |
| | IMSLP - Category:Lully, Jean-Baptiste - IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library: Free Public Domain Sheet Music |
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